


Skipper’s Secret

by EmilytheLemur



Category: the penguins of Madagascar
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27379069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilytheLemur/pseuds/EmilytheLemur
Summary: The penguins just found out that Skipper has been keeping a secret from them. And it's pretty Earth-shattering.
Relationships: Kowalski/OC
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. The Secret Comes Out

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

Noon was approaching and Central Park was swarming with humans. Some followed the trails through the park while others sat on blankets laid out in the short grass. To avoid being seen, a young penguin darted from tree to tree, jumping into the branches and using the leaves as cover whenever someone would walk by.

She eventually came to the end of the trees and looked up. There was a brick wall in front of her, and on top of it was a clock tower where a couple of monkey statues stood with hammers in their paws. Metal gates surrounded the tower; inside the gates a sculpture of a lion chased a zebra. Large letters above the entrance told her that she had finally made it to her destination.

Hopping down to the ground, she faced the wall, her mind racing. The end of her quest was in sight. What she has been searching for was just beyond these gates. Realizing this suddenly made her nervous, but she already came so far. She had to see this all the way through.

As she stood there, she saw that the zoo was open. People walked in and out of the arches that acted as the entrance. She needed to find a way in without being noticed. Glancing around, she spotted a sewage pipe. Quickly, she dashed down into it and crawled until she found herself under one of the exhibits. She climbed out, and, with a jolt, she saw that she was in the polar bear’s habitat. Without making a sound, she slipped over to the bars that separated the large creature from the rest of the zoo.

Her heart pounded hard In her chest when she saw a group of humans walking her way. She ducked behind a trash bin before they saw her. When the coast was clear, she dropped to her belly and slid over to a sign that pointed in several different directions. She studied each word carefully until she saw the one she was looking for.

The young penguin headed to the habitat, hiding behind cans so she wasn’t seen. She soon came to the enclosure. Through the bars, she could see four black-and-white aquatic birds standing on an island that was in the middle of a pool. They had their backs to her and were waving at the people gathered around to look at the cute animals. The humans held buckets of fish in their hands, and they tossed the food to the birds.

As she watched them eat the fish, her stomach rumbled, reminding her of her hunger. She stiffened when one of the penguins lifted its head and turned in her direction; she dove behind a nearby garbage can.

Several moments passed and nothing happened. Finally, she dared to look back and she let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the penguin had its back to her again. She noticed for the first time that it was a male and he stood a ways away from the others, his head held high. Clearly, this penguin had authority.

She watched as he turned to one of the others, a rather tall penguin. “Is it just me or do you also feel like someone is watching us?” His head moved from side to side as if surveying the area for anything suspicious. She knew she should be hiding so that she wouldn’t be seen, but she was curious to hear the tall penguin’s reply.

The penguin looked at its friend, swallowing the fish that it was eating. “Well sir,” it began— _also male_ , the young penguin thought— and the tall bird pointed to the people around their habitat with his flipper. “We _are_ being watched by the humans.”

The first penguin, who had a flat head, knocked the other one’s flipper away. “That’s not what I meant, Kowalski!” he snapped at him.

Kowalski shrugged. “Don’t worry so much, Skipper. You are only being paranoid.” But he didn’t give him any time to respond before going back to eating with the other two, who didn’t even look up from their meal.

The young bird behind the trash can narrowed her eyes. _So that’s him,_ she thought, forcing herself not to run out of hiding to confront the penguin she had journeyed so far to find. _I need to get him alone._ His team couldn’t get involved.

Quietly, she backed away from the penguin habitat, ducking behind yet another trash can when several kids ran by her. She watched as they stopped in front of a cart selling pretzels. Her stomach growled again. But the zoo was crawling with humans; she knew she couldn’t risk going in search of food. Even though she was hungry, she decided to go into hiding until the zoo closed.

Looking around, she noticed a brick wall circling the exhibit next to the penguins’. There were palm trees growing in the habitat, and she could see something large in the back that seemed to be built into the wall; there was some sort of red liquid leaking out of it.

She glanced to another part of the enclosure to where a platform stood, tall enough for the animals to look down on the humans passing by or gathering to see whatever lived in this habitat.

Dropping to her belly, she slid over to the wall. She jumped to her feet and glanced around, spotting the plaque that would give her more information about this habitat, like who lived in it. After a quick check to make sure no humans were near, she climbed onto the plaque, studying the words. During her journey, she had learned how to read so that she always knew where she was.

“Lemur habitat.” She thought back to the stories her mother used to tell her when she was just a hatchling, about many different animals she had encountered in her lifetime. One of the animals her mother had talked often about were lemurs. The young penguin herself had never met a lemur before. The animals at her old zoo weren’t that friendly and they rarely left their enclosures.

Suddenly she was really curious.

Looking into the exhibit, she noticed for the first time that there was a chair on the tall platform. She tried to see into the back but the bright sunlight made everything look blurry. She was so distracted with this new discovery that for a few moments she forgot all about the humans walking around. When she remembered that she should be hiding, she jumped down into the lemur habitat.

Once on the ground, she walked farther into the exhibit, staying close to the platform. She was expecting to see one of the furry creatures who lived in here. But nothing moved and she couldn’t hear anything. Where was everyone?

Suddenly a shadow fell on her. She jerked her head up, gasping. She found herself staring at something she’s never seen before. It was a huge, square object that looked like it was made out of balloons. A head of a creature stuck out of it, seeming to be wearing a leafy hat.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Slowly, she started to back away, unable to take her eyes off the unknown thing. She jumped when she ran into something, but she realized that it was only the platform. She bolted behind it, breathing heavily.

 _What was that thing?_ she wondered. Surely it couldn’t have been a lemur? Her mother never said they were that big!

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, she got the nerve to look back. But the thing never moved. Embarrassment washed over her. _It’s not alive…_ she thought, suddenly feeling stupid. She should have known that! She saw many weird things on her journey, and even though she’s never seen anything like this before, she should have been smart enough to know that it couldn’t be alive.

She was about to come out of hiding to investigate the strange looking thing when suddenly an animal popped out of nowhere, and the young penguin pressed her back against the platform. She didn’t know that she was holding her breath until she started feeling lightheaded. Breathing again, she listened to the laughter of the animal that had appeared.

Finally she poked her head out of hiding and saw the creature bouncing up and down on the huge, weird object! She stared in shock as the animal enjoyed itself. The penguin wondered if _this_ was a lemur, noticing its ring tail and suddenly remembering that her mother told her that some looked like that. She narrowed her eyes in confusion when she saw the hat on top of the lemur’s head.

Curious, the penguin slowly walked back to the huge thing, glad to see that the lemur was so distracted that it didn’t seem to notice her as she ducked behind the weird thing. She watched it jump up and down; she didn’t know why, but she found this creature very interesting. There was just something she couldn’t quite understand that made her feel like she could just sit here and watch it for hours.

After a while her beak parted in a huge yawn, exhausted from the long journey. She curled up in the short grass, the lemur’s laughter still ringing in her ears. Her stomach growled again. _I’ll stay here until all the humans leave, and every animal is asleep. Then I’ll go find food and then do what I came here to do,_ she decided in her head, closing her eyes and her last thought before falling asleep was, _I will get answers to my questions._

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Something poked the young penguin’s side, bringing her back to consciousness. She blinked open her eyes. A blurry shape stood over her, and she heard someone talking but couldn’t understand what they were saying. When her eyes finally came into focus, she saw the lemur from earlier leaning over her. He stopped talking and blinked, clearly waiting for an answer.

The penguin got to her feet and dusted the dirt off her stomach. She then looked up at the lemur, surprised at how much taller he was than her. “Um… what?” she stammered.

“I said,” the lemur started, annoyed,” who are you, penguin, and what are you doing in my kingdom?” He walked closer to her, poking her belly, and she stumbled backwards.

“Kingdom?” Before she could say more, there was a flash of black-and-white and four penguins appeared, flipping into the habitat and landing between the female penguin and the ring-tailed lemur.

Anger burned in her as she stared at the leader of the group, her flippers folding into fists and her brow bending. Just seeing him made her want to jump on him and started throwing punches, but she knew he could probably beat her.

Skipper looked at the lemur and asked,” Do you know this penguin, Ringtail?”

The ring-tailed lemur shook his head. “Why would I be knowing this penguin? I have never seen her before in my life.” He crossed his arms and added,” I thought you would know her, since, you know, she’s a penguin, like you, silly penguin.” The lemur took a step toward Skipper and looked him in the eyes.

Suddenly two more lemurs appeared, and the young penguin recognized one of them as an aye-aye from her mother’s stories. The other one was a smaller lemur— it kind of looked like a mouse. The new lemurs walked over to everyone, and the aye-aye asked,” What’s going on?”

No one answered him.

Skipper turned to the female penguin and looked her over, crossing his flippers over his chest. “And who would you be?”

She stepped forward which brought her inches away from his beak. She hesitated when she noticed his team moving forward as if to protect him, but the leader lifted his flipper to call them off. “Don’t you recognize me?” she finally said. She took a step back and looked away, shifting her feet. “No, of course not. I was only a baby when you left…”

Skipper and his team and the lemurs looked confused, she noticed. She sighed, but when she turned back to the leader, anger hardened her heart. “My name is Alex,” she introduced herself.

“Alex,” the leader penguin muttered under his breath. Then he said a little louder,” That name… sounds… so… familiar…” His eyes suddenly went huge and he gasped. Did he finally get it? “Alex! Is it really you? I haven’t seen you in years. Not since—“

“Not since you left my mother,” Alex interrupted, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.

“Skippah,” the smallest penguin, who looked to be a little older than Alex, spoke up. “Who is this?”

Skipper didn’t reply to him. For a long moment, it felt like it was just him and Alex. They stared at each other, shock and confusion shining in Skipper’s eyes.

“Hello…” Alex stopped for a dramatic pause. Then she added in a voice filled with all the hatred she felt toward this penguin: “Father.”


	2. Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story.

As she stared at her father, the familiar anger she’s always felt about growing up without him burned inside Alex. Now it was as strong as ever. Her whole body was tensed as she glared at the lead penguin— she could feel her flippers clenching into fists. She took a step toward him and he backed up. She was glad to see the fear in his ice blue eyes.

“Mother has told me a lot about you,” she said, still advancing on him and soon he was trapped between her and the wall of the lemur habitat. Alex could see that he was looking for a way to escape, but if he tried, she would be ready for him. It was time Skipper stopped running from his past and faced his daughter.

So she was surprised, if not a little disappointed, when the leader lifted his head and looked the female penguin in the eyes. But he said nothing.

“What’s wrong, father?” She spat out the word “father” like it was poison. She hated to admit that this penguin was her father. Then she reminded herself that she came here for the truth. She was determined to know why Skipper left her and her mother without even an explanation.

However, before the leader could reply, the youngest member of the team waddled over to them. He looked at Skipper, his back to Alex and she couldn’t see the look in his eyes, but his voice sounded sad and a little hurt. “You never told us you had a daughter, Skippah,” he said with a swift glance at Alex.

“Well, you see, Private,” Skipper began, but he was interrupted by the tall lemur, who had walked over right behind Private.

“Could you please be taking this family reunion to your own habitat?” the ring-tailed lemur demanded, pushing Skipper and Private away.

Alex swallowed her laughter. There was something about the way this lemur talked and acted like he held authority over the penguins that made Alex want to burst out laughing. There was also something else deep down inside her that she never felt before, so she couldn’t say what it was. She didn’t really care enough right now to figure it out. She turned to her father, angry once more. “I came here for the truth,” she told him.

The ring-tailed lemur stopped pushing the penguins and curiously turned to Alex. “I would like to be knowing this also,” he said. Alex wasn’t sure if he was talking to one of his friends or himself.

Skipper walked over to his daughter and grabbed her by the flipper, pulling her with him. “Come on, men!” he said to his team. “We’re going back to our HQ!”

Alex struggled in her father’s grip, but he had a firm hold on her. She found herself glancing over her shoulder at the tallest lemur, who still stood where he was, watching as the penguins left. The other two lemurs joined him. Alex guessed they were curious to hear the truth too, but she knew this was between her and her father. She wondered if he would let his team listen to their talk. She kind of hoped so; she didn’t want to be left alone with her father because she might attack him out of anger, and if she did that, then he might not tell her anything.

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Skipper paced in front of his daughter and teammates. Alex could see that he was trying to think of something to say. The moment they got back to their hidden HQ, the leader had ordered silence while he thought. Alex reluctantly did what he said, though she was still very angry with her father. She forced herself not to run to him and jump on him, reminding herself again that he was more skilled in fighting than her.

A nudge on her side snapped her out of her trance. She turned to the youngest member of the team, who stood beside her. Not wanting to disobey his leader’s orders, Private was unable to speak, so he just stared at the female penguin with confusion in his eyes. Alex knew he wanted to know more about Skipper’s daughter, but she didn’t want to tell him anything about herself, so she acted like she was obeying her father’s order, like him, though honestly, she couldn’t care less about what Skipper wanted. All she cared about was finding out the truth.

Finally, after a while, Skipper came to a halt and turned to the other penguins. He looked over them, his gaze landing on Alex, who met his eyes steadily.

“So, you came here for the truth,” he said as he took a step toward her which brought him directly in front of her. “Why didn’t Daisy tell you?”

“My mother always took care of me,” Alex replied, hardening her voice to a challenge. “She never wanted to hurt me. Unlike you, she—“

“I did what I had to!” Skipper insisted, sounding so tired of talking about all this and like he just wanted to get rid of Alex, so he would never have to think about his daughter or his former mate ever again.

Alex had to calm herself before she could reply. “You _had_ to leave us?” Suddenly sadness overtook her. “I just want to know why, father… Why leave us?” She hated to seem so weak and emotional in front of everyone, but she thought maybe if her father saw how much she was suffering, he would give her a break and tell her the truth.

Instead of replying to her, Skipper turned to his team. “I need some alone time with my daughter,” he said.

The tall penguin, Kowalski, said,” Of course.” Then he pushed the other two toward the ladder. Rico and Private went up the ladder with no hesitation, but Kowalski didn’t follow them right away. He turned back to his leader. “We’ll be topside if you need us,” he said, and he quickly glanced at Alex before climbing upwards.

Once they were gone, Skipper turned to Alex, but the female penguin was still staring at the ladder. Why had he looked at her like that? She didn’t understand the look, but it kind of made her uncomfortable, and she could still feel heat under her feathers like his eyes were still burning into her even though he was gone now. She sighed and turned back to her father.

“So,” she began, trying to make her voice steady; she wanted to burst out crying, but she forced herself not to. She’s waited her whole life for this moment and now it was here. She finally stood in front of her father, about to find out what happened and why he disappeared from their life without so much of an explanation. “Are you going to tell me the truth now?”

Skipper nodded and grabbed his daughter’s flipper. He pulled her over to the couch and motioned for her to sit down. Once she was settled, he sat beside her and took a deep breath.


	3. The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story.

He took a deep breath and began. “Well, to start with, I should say that me, Kowalski, Rico, and Private all grew up together. We were a team from the beginning, and we did everything together. But at some point, I felt like I had to go out on my own. They tried to talk me out of it, but I felt like it was something I had to do.”

Alex listened carefully, determined not to miss a thing. She tried to picture a young Skipper setting out all on his own when he spent all his life with the others, but she couldn’t. She pushed the thought away as her father went on.

“I was tracking down the evil mastermind, Dr. Blowhole, and I had a really good lead this time. Soon I found myself at the Baton Rouge zoo in Louisiana. I had heard that he was there undercover, working on some evil plan,” Skipper explained. “But I was there for months and I never saw him. Of course in the last month or two, I stopped looking because you were born.”

Suddenly interested, Alex looked closely at her father. “What happened?” she asked, trying not to show how desperate she was for an answer.

“Let me tell you how I met Daisy,” he insisted. “When I first got there, I hardly paid attention to the other penguins. I was so focused on finding Blowhole; I needed to find him because the last couple of places I went to where he was supposed to be, it all led to dead ends. But this time I thought I had a good chance of stopping him, and that’s all I wanted to do. However, when I was there for a few weeks, I started to think I had hit another dead end.”

 _Get on with it!_ Alex screamed in her head. She didn’t really care about all this. She just wanted to know why her father left her and her mother, and never returned.

“I was getting ready to leave,” Skipper told her,” when I finally noticed your mother. She was sitting by herself and for some reason I felt drawn to her. I decided to stay a few more days, and all that time I spent with Daisy, getting to know her, and the more I discovered about her, the more I longed to stay. She was so sweet and smart and I was even starting to teach her some fighting moves in case Blowhole did show up and she had to protect herself. I found myself confessing everything to her: My solo mission; my teammates; everything.”

Alex was confused. “If you loved her so much, then why did you leave?” she ventured.

“Well, I had to return to my team,” her father said. “One day, I finally decided it was time to go. I was getting ready to tell Daisy when she told me that she was expecting. For a long time, I was torn between leaving or staying and helping Daisy. I thought about Kowalski, Rico, and Private, and wondered what they would say. I wanted to get a message to them somehow and ask for their advice, but I felt like that would have taken too long.”

“What made you decide to leave?” she asked, anger and sadness washing over her. This was it. She was about to find out why she grew up without a father.

“At first, I had decided to stay. I never told Daisy that I was even considering leaving. I just told her that I was going to be the best father I could be.”

“But you weren’t,” Alex muttered.

He sighed and looked away. “I know. You were still so young when I got a message that Dr. Blowhole found out that I left my team and he was working on a way to find them. I had to get to them before Blowhole did. I was going to tell all this to Daisy, but when I saw her holding you, telling you how brave and noble I was and how much she was proud of me, I couldn’t break her heart by telling her that I was leaving.”

“So you left without saying anything,” Alex growled. “Which broke her heart more.” She jumped to her feet and glared at her father. “You weren’t there; you didn’t see what you did to her. Unlike you, she did everything for me, but it was clear she was hurting. She suffered quietly, but I saw the sadness in her eyes and her misery was clear in the way she spoke. She hated talking about you, and eventually I stopped asking questions, for her sake.”

“I’m sorry, Alex,” he pleaded, getting up as well. “I really am. But… my team was in danger. I had to return to them.”

“Fine, whatever,” she muttered. “I guess I can understand that. But what about afterwards?” she demanded. “After you helped your friends? Why didn’t you ever return to us? You haven’t even told the others about me!”

Skipper hung his head. “I regret not saying anything to them,” he admitted. “And I wanted to return to you and Daisy, but… it was so soon after defeating Blowhole. I didn’t want to leave my team a second time in case Blowhole showed up again. And before I knew it, so much time had passed by and I figured Daisy wouldn’t want to see me again…” His voice trailed off and he stared helplessly at his daughter.

Alex stared at him in shock. “You never cared about us,” she realized, starting to back up. “If you did, you would have come back to us somehow. No,” she added when he opened his mouth to object. “You know it’s true. You would have done something to find us after your friends were safe, if you cared.” She wanted to cry or scream or break something. Almost blinded by her tears, she just saw when Skipper told a step toward her, but she spun around and ran to the ladder, jumping over the steps in one mighty leap.

Before she disappeared through the hole, she said over her shoulder,” I wish I never came here! I wish I never tried to find you!”

She pushed off the ladder and launched herself through the hole, not waiting for an answer from her father. The sudden sunlight burned her eyes, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get far away from here. She could hear him climbing up the ladder after her.

She turned to jump over the gates so she wouldn’t be in the habitat when the leader came out of the HQ, but she paused when she heard a British voice ask her,” Are you alright?” She suddenly realized that tears were running down her face. She opened her beak to reply, but just then, Skipper flipped out of the hole onto the platform and landed in front of his daughter.

“Hold it right there, Alex,” he said sternly. “We aren’t done talking!”

“Well, I’m done listening!” she snapped, glaring at her father. “It’s obvious that you don’t want me. You much rather them!” She pointed to the three penguins who stood on the other side of the island, staring at their leader and his daughter with wide, confused eyes. “So let me go and return to my mother, and I’ll never bother you again.” She heard her own voice crack, but she didn’t back down from her father. She continued to glare at him.

“I understand you’re upset, Alex, but—“ Skipper began.

“Upset?” Alex interrupted, finally losing her temper. All the anger she’s ever felt about growing up without a father— and now learning that he could have returned to them but chose not to— came spilling out of her. “I’m past upset, Skipper! You don’t even deserve the title of father anymore!” She took a step toward the leader, but suddenly the other three penguins were in between them.

“Okay, Alex,” said Kowalski, holding his flippers up and staring at the female penguin with that same, weird look that he had earlier before Skipper told her the truth. “I know you’re upset with Skipper, but yelling and screaming at him won’t change the past. What’s done is done. What really matters is that you’re together now. Maybe he can finally become a father you can count on. Right, Skipper?” He turned to his leader, who was nodding and staring at his daughter with hopeful eyes.

Alex continued to glare at her father. Then shook her head. Instead of replying, she backed away slowly. When one of the penguins took a step toward her, she spun around and jumped over the gate, clearing the water with ease and landing outside the habitat. She groaned when she heard her father order that she was brought back to him.

Dropping to her stomach, she slid away, aware that the other penguins were on her tail. She could hear Skipper calling to her, but she ignored him, turning a corner and quickly jumping onto a table. She ducked under the umbrella. She sighed with relief when the four penguins went by without seeing her.

Jumping down, she started toward the entrance of the zoo, but she heard something. Thinking fast, she ran to a building and pressed her back to it. She poked her head around the corner but didn’t see anyone. Maybe it was just her imagination.

“He’s going to find you.”

Alex jumped at the voice, and she fell into a fighting position as the tall penguin stepped out from under a table. She braced herself, ready to fight him if he tried to take her back to her father. She was determined to do whatever it took to not see that penguin again!

There was a hint of amusement in Kowalski’s eyes-- and still that unknown sparkle that was always there when he looked at Alex. He waddled over to the female penguin, laying his flipper on her shoulder, the humor suddenly vanishing from his eyes. Sympathy replaced it. “I’m sorry, Alex,” he murmured. “But I have to take you to Skipper. It’s an order.” He sighed and shifted his feet.

Alex thought quickly. _Could I trick him into disobeying his leader? He looks so uncomfortable with this whole thing!_ Alex frowned deeply and looked down at the ground. “I just thought when I finally found my father, things would turn out differently,” she whispered. “I didn’t realize it would hurt this much.” She glanced back up at Kowalski, glad to see the indecision on his face. It was working! For the first time in her entire life, she was happy that someone felt sorry for her. Maybe Kowalski will let her leave without her father knowing that he found her— she didn’t want him to get in trouble, even if she didn’t know him.

Suddenly a young, British voice called out. “Great! You found her, Kowalski! I’ll go and tell Skippah!”

The tall penguin slid over to the smaller one and covered his beak with his flipper. Private stared up at him with huge, confused eyes. Kowalski dragged Private over to Alex.

“What are you doing, Kowalski?” asked Private as soon as the taller bird let go of his beak. He stared at his friend, then at Alex, and back again. Alex could see the look in his eyes, and she was worried he might run off anyways and go find Skipper— then both her and Kowalski would be in trouble.

“Just look at her, Private.” Kowalski pointed a flipper at Alex, and she frowned, showing him how miserable she was, hoping that he would see that she didn’t want to go back to her father.

Private frowned too when he saw the look in Alex’s eyes and it was a while before he finally nodded. “Okay,” he murmured. “I can’t hand her over to Skipper like this, just seeing how sad she is. What are we supposed to do, then?” he asked.

Shrugging, Kowalski replied,” Hide her, I suppose.”

Before Private could answer, a grunting noise startled them, and Alex turned to see Rico standing a little way off. He was pointing and grunting as he jumped up and down.

His friends slid to him, covering his beak. Alex slowly followed them, looking around and making sure her father wasn’t near. By the time she got to them, Kowalski and Private had Rico calmed, and he was listening as Kowalski tried to convince him to go against Skipper and help Alex.

At first, Rico looked surprised, and Alex thought he was about to push his friends off and go find his leader to tell him where Alex was.

Alex waited nervously for several moments while the three penguins discussed things.

“Are you with us?” Kowalski finally asked.

Rico seemed to think for another minute, before nodding.

“That’s great!” Private exclaimed, a little too loudly, and Alex looked around, expecting her father to come out of nowhere and catch her.

Kowalski covered his beak. “Shh!” he whispered, and the private nodded, his eyes huge.

The tall penguin thought for a moment, tapping his beak. “Let’s go to the lemur habitat.”

“Why?” Private asked, confused.

“That would be the last place Skipper would look,” Kowalski replied, walking away.

The other penguins followed him. Alex was grateful to the others for helping her, but she still didn’t understand why Kowalski so easily agreed to help her. Surely she wasn’t that pitiful?

 _And why does he keep looking at me that way? He’s staring at me like that right now!_ She could see the tall penguin looking at her with warm, bright eyes, but there was something else deep down in them that she couldn’t read. _I don’t know if I want to find out either. I have more important things to worry about right now than some boy!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment please! Thank you!


	4. The MP3 Player

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story.

“You want me to be hiding this female penguin here?” the tall lemur asked, and Alex was glad Kowalski gave away no major details except that they needed to hide Alex from her father. The lemur didn’t even seem interested in the specifics, and she was hopeful that he might agree to help her.

“Precisely,” Kowalski replied, nodding thoughtfully.

“But why do you want to hide her here?” It was the aye-aye who asked that, and Alex felt her hope shatter at that single question. She didn’t want to explain to these lemurs why she was avoiding her father. Kowalski and the other two penguins had heard her arguing with their leader, but even they didn’t know the whole story.

Alex watched as her father’s team exchanged glances, but before they could answer, the tall lemur spoke up again.

“It doesn’t matter why they want to be staying here, Maurice.” He glared down at the aye-aye, and then turned back to the penguins. Alex felt like he wanted to say something, but it never came.

“It doesn’t?” Maurice eyed his friend suspiciously.

“Nope,” the ring-tailed lemur responded, keeping his eyes on the penguins. “I’m sure they would be telling us sooner or later. But,” he added to Kowalski, with a slight smile,” if you want her to be hiding here, you must do me a favor in return.”

Alex heard Maurice mutter under his breath,” Yep, that’s the King Julien I know.”

 _King?_ Alex suddenly realized what the hat on top of his head meant and she found herself getting excited. _This lemur is a king? Wow! That’s so cool!_

“What favor?” Private’s young, British voice broke into Alex’s thoughts. He sounded confused and interested at the same time.

The tall lemur circled the penguins, letting his long tail rub against them, before coming to a halt beside Maurice again. Then the lemurs exchanged a look; Maurice nodded as if telling his king to go on.

“Well,” Julien continued,” when the zoo was opened, I heard these kids talking about losing something called a… um… What was it being called again, Maurice?” He turned to the aye-aye.

“I think they called it a MP3 Player, Your Majesty,” he answered, shrugging.

“A MP3 Player?” Kowalski echoed.

Alex has heard of this human thing. She’s seen kids listening to the device before, and she even managed to grab one for herself once, until she lost it. It was something the humans used to hold music, and usually it came with this snake-like cord called headphones which they plugged into the Player to hear the music. It was quite an interesting gadget.

“Yes.” Julien nodded. “If you find me this… thingy, she can stay here as long as she likes.” He smiled at the penguins, leaning eagerly toward them.

“But it could be anywhere in the zoo!” Private pointed out, waving his flippers wildly, then sighing.

“Even if they did lose it here,” Kowalski added, looking doubtful.

Rico grunted in agreement.

“No, they did lose it here,” Julien insisted. “I think they said they lost it somewhere near the alligator habitat.” He reached for his tail and started stroking it as if deep in thought.

“You don’t suppose Roger’s seen it, do you?” Private asked.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Kowalski answered. “Let’s go ask him, but we still need to keep a lookout for Skipper.” The tall penguin turned to Alex and said to her,” It’s probably best if you stay here, in case we do run into your father, he would think we’re still looking for you.”

“When are we going to tell Skippah that we found her and we’re protecting her from him?” Private asked anxiously, as if he didn’t like this whole lying to his leader plan.

“We’ll tell him eventually,” Kowalski answered, but Alex saw his eyes darken as if he wasn’t looking forward to telling his leader that they went against orders.

The three penguins were getting ready to leave, while Alex stepped back until she was beside Maurice, when Julien let go of his tail and said,” Or they could have lost it by the chimps?”

Private looked at him, then back at Kowalski. “Phil and Mason?”

Julien nodded, then frowned. “Or was it by Marlene’s habitat? Or the elephant’s? Or in the park?” He kept naming off places in the entire zoo, and Alex could see that Kowalski was getting very upset now.

“Alright, that’s enough,” the tall penguin interrupted sternly, which made the lemur snap his mouth shut. “We’ll look all over the zoo if we have to.”

“And the park.” Private sighed.

Rico nodded, though Alex saw boredom in his eyes.

The three penguins left the lemur habitat before Julien could give them more places to look. Alex glanced around at her surroundings. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of black-and-white, and that’s when she noticed Skipper jumping over the brick wall. Quickly, she jumped down to the ground just as her father landed onto the platform in front of the lemurs. He faced them and asked,” Have you lemurs seen Alex?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! Thank you!


	5. The Kingly Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story.

Julien opened his muzzle but no words came out. He glanced from side to side, trying to think of something to say. _I don’t think I should be giving away her secret. Should I pretend like I’ve no idea what he’s talking about? That would make me look stupid! The other penguins have not found my music thingy yet, but they are looking for it._

He felt uncomfortable under Skipper’s stare and he knew if he didn’t say anything soon the penguin would suspect something was up. Finally he said,” I haven’t been seeing her since you silly penguins left with her earlier.”

 _I’m the king!_ he told himself. _I can lie to whoever I want to be lying to!_

At first, Skipper looked like he didn’t believe the ring-tailed lemur and like he wanted nothing more than to argue with him. But finally the penguin just shook his head. “Fine,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Whatever. I’ll go look somewhere else.” The leader looked angrily at Julien, but he didn’t say anything else. He did a backflip out of the lemur habitat and disappeared behind the wall.

Once he was gone, Julien let out a sigh and said out loud,” That was being a close one!”

Maurice nodded in agreement, still staring after the penguin leader.

A moment later, Alex jumped back on the platform and ran to Julien. She hugged him, much to the king’s annoyance. He growled a little under his breath as he pushed her off, telling her,” You are being new here, so you don’t know that I hate being hugged when I’m not the one who’s doing the hugging.”

Alex blinked, but nodded.

“Another thing,” he added, leaning closer to her,” if you’re going to be staying here for a while, you should be knowing something very, very, very important.” He pointed to his feet as he said,” There is absolutely no touching of the royal feet!”

The penguin looked confused, Julien noticed, but he was glad she nodded anyways.

Informing her about his “no touching the royal feet” rule made him think of something. He turned to Maurice and asked,” Have you been seeing Mort?” He didn’t really care about the annoying little lemur, but he missed kicking him, and right about now, feeling so annoyed that the penguins wanted to use his kingdom for some hide-and-seek game, he needed someone to kick.

The aye-aye shook his head as he looked around. “He was here this morning, but I haven’t seen him since the zoo closed.” Maurice walked to the edge of the platform and started calling Mort’s name, but there was no answer.

Julien noticed the female penguin watching them. She walked over to him. “Mort’s that little mouse-looking lemur, right?” she asked.

“Yes, and he’s so annoying,” the king had to add, rolling his eyes. He thought maybe he’s gone off by himself, but he knew Mort usually went crazy if he was away from King Julien and his royal feet for long.

Before Alex could answer, Maurice reappeared. “He’s not in the habitat, Your Majesty,” he reported worriedly. Even Julien started to fear the worse. He hated the annoying little creature, but he didn’t like the idea of him wandering off by himself or laying somewhere, hurt.

“Well, go find him,” he ordered his adviser as he pushed him away. “If he’s not here, I can’t be taking my anger out on him!”

“Alright, alright.” Maurice jumped off the platform and onto the wall, disappearing over it. Julien smiled, satisfied, glad that his subject did whatever he said without question… well most of the time, anyways.

Julien then realized that he was left alone with the female penguin. He turned back to her and saw that she was staring at him with wide eyes. He walked over to her, trying not to show how uncomfortable he felt about being by himself with a stranger, and the daughter of that bossy penguin at that.

“Your Highness?” Alex’s voice broke into Julien’s troubled thoughts, and he felt a delighted shiver run up his spine when she called him that. “Why do you want to take out your anger on the little lemur?” she continued after a few moments when Julien didn’t answer. “Isn’t he one of your loyal subjects?”

Instead of answering right away, he began to think. _Maybe I’ll be liking this penguin after all,_ he thought. Nobody besides Maurice and Mort looked at him as a king ever since he left his home on Madagascar. He looked down at Alex and saw her staring back at him, but she didn’t say anything else like she was waiting for him to reply to her question.

“You see,” Julien explained as he walked over to his throne and hopped onto it,” Mort worships me, but he’s so annoying.” He fell on his seat with a groan to make his point. He looked down to see that Alex was watching him with huge, interested eyes, not missing a thing the king did. _Not even Maurice seems this loyal to me… I’m starting to really like this penguin… Maybe I could be getting a new subject to my kingdom?_ He crossed his legs and glanced down at the penguin, adding,” And he’s always touching the royal feet, and he’s just plain ugly!”

Alex blinked, staring up at the lemur, but Julien had run out of things to say. He threw his legs across one of the arms of his chair and laid his head back, resting his paws on his stomach. He looked up at the sky, once more thinking about his music thingy that the penguins were trying to find for him. He hoped they would get back soon; he was getting impatient.

“Your Majesty?”

Julien’s thoughts were interrupted, which annoyed the king, but instead of snapping at the penguin, he sighed. He realized she had called him something only Maurice and Mort and the other lemurs of Madagascar labeled him when he became king, and suddenly he wasn’t upset anymore. It felt good to have more people in his kingdom.

“Yes?” the king asked, but without taking his eyes off the sky as he watched clouds drift by. He loved peaceful days like this one. Even with craziness like this female penguin showing up and Skipper and his team turning the zoo upside down, he felt so tranquil.

“I was just wondering if you…” Alex’s voice trailed away, and Julien heard a shuffling noise as if she was shifting her feet. She didn’t try to finish her sentence.

Julien tore his gaze from the sky and glanced down at her. “Well?” he prompted.

He was surprised to see how awkward she looked, as if she was regretting speaking. Finally she took a deep breath and said,” I was just wondering if you knew what a MP3 Player is? You seem like you really wanted Kowalski and the others to find it,” she quickly added when Julien raised a questioningly eyebrow. “But it just felt like you didn’t really know what it is.”

Julien sat up in surprise and looked down at the penguin. At first he was going to tell her that of course he knew what it was, because as king he knew everything. But then he sighed and said,” Fine, I don’t know exactly what it is… But I heard the kids say something about a ‘fat beat’ or something, and that’s all I needed to be hearing! I need to shake my ‘thing’ to this beat.” He jumped off his throne and landed in front of Alex, leaning closer to her. “Do you know what this music thingy is?”

Alex nodded. “I know some things about MP3 Players,” she told him, sounding a little proud of herself. “I know that humans put songs on them and listen to them with a cord thing called headphones, but unless the guys can find you a pair, your MP3 Player will basically be useless. I’m sorry, my king.” She looked down as if she thought it was her fault and Julien blinked at her, taken aback.

Suddenly his tail shot up when a thought hit him. A cord? _Could that whatsit I found outside my kingdom be what she calls ‘headphones’?_ “What does this cord look like?” he asked the penguin.

“Stringy, sometimes white, sometimes another color, plays music through ear shaped speakers.”

He thought for a moment, then, without replying to the penguin, he turned and ran across the platform, heading to the bar. When he got there, he jumped over the stools and landed on the other side of the counter. He grabbed the snake-like whatsit on the shelf and ran back to Alex. He opened his hands, and the young penguin looked at what he was holding.

“That’s headphones, alright!” she said cheerfully. “Where did you find them?”

“After the kids left, I saw that they dropped something, so I went to check it out, and I found this.” The king lifted the cord in the air. Then he lowered it and studied it closely. The more stuff he learned around humans, the more they interested him. Now he couldn’t wait for the penguins to get back, so he can find out how to work the MP3 Player. Excitement ran through his body as he looked the cord up and down. He held onto it with one paw and let the other end fall to the ground. Then he used his other hand to lift the end that split in two and studied it. _Weird…_

He began to get really impatient now. “What’s taking them so long?” he demanded.

“I’m sure they’ll be back soon,” Alex promised calmly. “Have patience, my king.”

Julien was so restless that he couldn’t enjoy Alex calling him “her king”. He jumped back onto his throne, the cord still in his paws. He began to eye it and made one end of it move back and forth in front of him while he kept the other end still.

 _Hurry up, penguins!_ he thought as he watched the cord swing in his paw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! Thank you!


	6. The Search for the MP3 Player

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story. Also I do not own either songs mentioned in this chapter and I do not recommend looking up the first one unless you like hard rock. It’s kind of inappropriate though, so I’m warning you. The second song Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson is really good.

The penguins looked all over the zoo, in and around every habitat. They even looked in the park, behind every tree, around every rock. There was no sign of the MP3 Player. Now they were headed back to the zoo, crestfallen that they couldn’t find what they were looking for. They hoped Julien would still allow Alex to hide in the lemur habitat even if they didn’t have what he wanted. Heads bowed, they walked in a line with Kowalski in the lead, Private following him, and Rico bringing up the rear.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t find the MP3 Player,” Private remarked as the penguins walked through the entrance of the zoo, heading toward the lemurs’ habitat.

Kowalski nodded in agreement, sighing; he heard Rico grunt and guessed he also agreed. “If only one of the other animals saw the kids with the MP3 Player,” the tall penguin murmured, but all the animals they asked said they didn’t see anything like that.

Then he realized that his friends didn’t reply, and when he turned, he saw that they had halted. He waddled over to them and asked,” Why did you stop?”

Private lifted his flipper and pointed at something. Kowalski looked at him, wondering why the young penguin looked so distraught. He considered slapping him to snap him out of it, but without Skipper here to give him permission, he just shrugged and turned to where Private was gesturing.

A building was in front of them, and when he looked through the window, he noticed three animals in there. Kowalski narrowed his eyes when he recognized them as the chimps and the little lemur, Mort. They were sitting around the computer, not even keeping a lookout for any of the zookeepers who could be here after hours.

As they watched, Phil turned to Mason and signed something with his hands. Mason turned to Mort, and Kowalski guessed he passed down what his friend told him, but he couldn’t hear them from where he stood. The tall penguin stared in confusion as the lemur said a quick response and put his little hand on the computer mouse, moving it. Kowalski had no idea what they could be doing.

“What are they doing?” Private’s voice broke into Kowalski’s thoughts, and he glanced down at him and shrugged, but before he could reply, suddenly Maurice appeared beside them. Kowalski was surprised that he managed to sneak up on them.

 _We must have been so focused on Mort and the chimps that we didn’t see him coming up,_ he realized.

“What’s Mort doing?” the aye-aye asked, looking at the penguins.

Kowalski shrugged again. “Only one way to find out,” he simply said, dropping to his stomach and sliding to the building. The others were right behind him, and he was thankful for that.

 _Maybe if I become leader of this unit…_ He couldn’t bring himself to finish that thought, knowing that the only way he would become leader is if Skipper… He quickly pushed that thought away too, terrified that somehow the flat-headed penguin will find out that he even considered that for a split-second. He knew the team would be lost without Skipper.

They jumped through the window, the penguins instantly falling into fighting positions, while Maurice just stood there, looking at them in confusion. Then Kowalski remembered that they weren’t here to fight. He lowered his flippers and waddled over to the table as Mason walked to the edge.

“What are you all doing here?” the chimp asked, looking down at Kowalski.

Kowalski was about to answer, but then he noticed Mort leaning closer to the computer and moved the mouse, pressing the button on top of it. The penguin was about to run over there and remind him that he had no idea how to work a computer when the room was suddenly filled with loud music.

Maurice jumped on the table beside his friend. “What are you doing, Mort?” he asked over the loud music.

Mort didn’t reply. He just pointed at the computer. Kowalski hopped onto the table and looked at the screen. He saw a weird looking “window” pulled up with words scrolling sideways. He felt the familiar annoyance he always felt when he was reminded that he couldn’t read. He was a genius; he should be able to read!

Then he glanced around the computer and saw something plugged into it.

“Is that the MP3 Player?” he asked as he walked over to it. He tried to reach for it to pull it out, but just then Mort jumped on him, pulling him backwards. Kowalski attempted to shake him off; the little lemur had a firm grip on him though. In the struggle, Kowalski took a few steps backwards and suddenly the table vanished from under him. He fell to the floor, Mort still on him, but as soon as the penguin hit the ground, the lemur jumped off him and back onto the table.

Private and Rico ran over to their friend, staring down at him with wide eyes. Kowalski struggled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and wondering what got into Mort. Then finally the words of the song hit him, but he didn’t like what he heard.

“What song is this?” the tall penguin asked loudly over the deafening music.

“It’s called Dove and Grenade by Hollywood Undead,” Mason told him, jumping off the table and landing beside the penguins. “Phil has read the titles of a few songs.” He pointed to where his mute friend still stood on the table with the lemurs.

“Out of all the songs, he wants to listen to this one?” Private asked, sounding just as disgusted with the song as Kowalski was.

Narrowing his eyes, Kowalski looked up at the table. He was surprised to hear Mort singing along to the song. He was singing the exact words as if he’s heard it so many times that he’s memorized the lyrics. Kowalski turned back to Mason. “How many times have you listened to this song?”

The chimp shrugged. “A few times,” he replied. “When we first came across it, he listened to it, but when Phil and I were going to find another song about halfway through because we didn’t like what they were saying, he refused, so we let him listen to it. We didn’t think it would bring any harm, but when we went to change it when it was over—“

“He still wouldn’t allow you to,” Kowalski guessed, deep in thought. He looked at Mort, who was still sitting in front of the computer, watching the screen intently as he sang. He really seemed to like this song, but why? Maybe if they could find another song that he would like, Mort would forget all about this song. Kowalski figured it would be okay if he obsessed over another song, but there was just something about this one he didn’t like.

 _He won’t let us change it, though,_ he thought. He wondered if they could sneak over there and find a song without him noticing. But if he did notice, he might attack again.

Turning to Private and Rico, he ordered,” Grab him and don’t let him go; no matter what he does.”

The two penguins nodded, jumping onto the table. They grabbed his arms and dragged him away from the computer, the little Mort kicking and screaming, but Rico covered his muzzle with his flipper as he and Private jumped off the table, Mort still fighting between them. They dragged him across the room, far away from the computer. Maurice ran after them.

Kowalski jumped back onto the table and turned to the computer, putting his flipper on the mouse. He started going through the songs as Mason and Phil read them to him. There were a lot of songs on this MP3 Player, and Kowalski found a few titles that he guessed Julien would enjoy. He didn't see anything that Mort might like though, and he was about to give up until he found a song Mason said was called Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson. He thought maybe he’d like that, and anything else was better than that other song.

He clicked on the song and the room was filled with music once more. He turned around to his friends, about to tell them to let go of Mort, just as the little lemur knocked the penguins away. Kowalski braced himself for the impact, seeing the little creature running straight for him; it never came though. He opened his eyes and saw his friends had grabbed Mort again. “Listen, Mort,” he said, jumping off the table and waddling over to them,” you can’t listen to this song over and over again. We’ve got to bring the MP3 Player to Julien.”

At the mention of his king’s name, Mort stopped struggling and blinked up at the tall penguin. “King Julien wants the little music player?” he asked, his eyes huge.

“Yep,” Kowalski replied, nodding.

“Oh,” the little lemur murmured. “I guess I can give it up for King Julien…” Kowalski knew he was sad about losing his music player, but he also knew Mort’s loyalty toward his king made him unable to object.

 _For once Julien’s royal title actually came in handy,_ he thought, turning back to the table. Mason unplugged the MP3 Player and the song stopped playing. The chimp handed it to Kowalski, who turned to his friends and said,” Let’s get this back to Julien.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! Thank you!


	7. A New Subject

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

Alex watched as the lemur king messed around with the headphones while he sat on his throne. The young penguin was bored, and she wanted to find something more interesting to do, but she tried to hide her boredom from the ring-tailed lemur. She didn’t want to offend him, so she sat in front of his tall chair and stared up at the curious Julien as he looked at the cord, examining it in his paws.

Finally the king sighed and threw the headphones away as if over with it.

Instantly, Alex jumped to her feet and ran to catch them. She just barely managed to catch them in time so they didn’t fall to the ground far below. She then noticed that she was on the very edge of the platform. Gulping, she took a step or two backward before she fell off. When she turned around, she found herself looking into yellow eyes and she had to stop herself from running into the king.

She waited for the lemur to say something, but it never came. He just looked at her closely, the same way he was studying the headphones. Alex felt uncomfortable, but she couldn’t just tell him to knock it off. He was the king after all; it wasn’t her place to talk back to him.

Although she wondered why he was looking at her like that. “Your Majesty?”

“You’re really thinking I’m being a real king?” the ring-tailed lemur asked.

“Of course,” Alex replied, surprised. “Your name is King Julien, right? And you wear a crown…” She pointed to the hat upon his head.

“Yes!” He stood a little taller. “I _am_ being the king!”

Alex just looked at him, not sure what to do, so she just offered the headphones back to him, but the king shook his head.

“You can… um… be holding onto that until I get my music thingy,” he said.

“Alright,” Alex responded, lowering her flipper, the cord firmly gripped in it.

Then she noticed that Julien had a smile on his face, and she wanted to ask him what he wanted, but she didn’t dare. She just stared back at him, hoping he would tell her. She didn’t want to speak to him again without being spoken to first in respect of the king.

Instead of saying anything at first, the ring-tailed lemur circled around her, coming to a halt beside her. He put his arm on her shoulder and wrapped his tail around her body. “Would you be minding doing something for me?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

Alex was surprised that the king suddenly got so close, but she didn’t want him to see her expression so she stared at the ground, shifting her feet a little. “Sure,” she murmured.

“Wonderful!” Julien pulled away from her and stood in front of her again. “I’m thirsty so be going making your king a smoothie.” He smiled down at her, but Alex just blinked at him, confused, not sure what he meant.

“A smoothie, Your Majesty?” Alex asked. She’s never heard of such a thing.

“Yes,” the lemur replied, nodding.

Alex suddenly felt embarrassed. She didn’t want the king to know that she’s never heard of a smoothie before so she just nodded and walked over to where he was pointing. She glanced around the area, hopping over the chairs and flat surface with no problem. She looked behind her to see Julien jumping back onto his throne. She felt a spark of horror when he glanced in her direction, and she quickly turned away from him.

She looked around, noticing a bunch of fruits and a few cups with colorful liquids in them. She then saw a weird looking metal and plastic tool that had a handle on the top and buttons on the bottom of the thing. She looked closer, wondering what it did. It was then that she realized there were tiny blades inside the plastic part.

“What’s taking so long?” she heard the king call out, making Alex jump in surprise. She knew the longer she made him wait the more impatient he’d get.

“Almost done!” she lied, silently cursing herself for lying to the king, but promising herself that she’ll make it up to him later somehow. She grabbed the nearest fruit— mangoes, she noticed— and took the lid off the weird looking machine. She threw the fruits in as she grabbed one of the cups, trying to hurry so the king didn’t yell at her again. She squirted a few drops in, before grabbing another cup. She didn’t know what was in them, because they didn’t have labels, but she hoped it would make the drink tasty.

Finally satisfied with what she put in the machine, she placed the lid back on and looked at the buttons, pressing the one that read “on”. She jumped in surprised when it started shaking like crazy, but then relaxed and watched in awe as the machine smashed the fruits and blended all the liquid together. After a few moments, she turned the machine off and grabbed an unused cup.

“Is it done yet?” the king asked, and Alex glanced over her shoulder to see him staring in her direction again.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” she called back as she poured the drink into the cup and grabbed a straw. She placed the straw into the drink as she walked back to the king, handing him the drink when she got there.

He took it and sat back down, taking tiny sips as if savoring it. Alex watched him carefully, brightening when she saw his eyes light up.

“It’s delicious!” he exclaimed, taking bigger gulps of it now.

Alex was delighted that he liked it. “Really?” she asked, smiling up at him.

He just nodded and kept drinking it until it was all gone. Then he threw the cup behind him. Alex slid on her belly and jumped to her feet, managing to catch it just in time before it hit the ground. She set it on the bar and went back to the throne.

Julien was watching her closely. “Uh… how would you like to becoming my new subject?” he asked unexpectedly.

Alex just stared up at him, not sure what to say. Could she say no? Not that she was really considering it though. After thinking about it, she decided that it could be an interesting experience. She bowed down before him, looked up at him, and declared,” I promise to always be the best subject I can be and always stay loyal to you!”

The king blinked at her, then smiled. “Great!”

“What do you want me to do now, Your Highness?” she asked, straightening and staring up at her king.

Julien jumped off his throne and ran to the other side of his habitat. Alex was trying to decide if she should follow him, when he suddenly reappeared, holding a stick with leaves at the end of it. He handed it to Alex, who took it without question. Then the ring-tailed lemur jumped onto his throne and crossed his legs.

“Begin fanning me, new subject,” he declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! Thank you!


	8. A Love Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

The commando penguins, along with Maurice and Mort, were heading back to the lemur habitat. Kowalski held onto the MP3 Player, glancing down at it. He couldn’t believe they found it; for a while he was doubting they’d be able to and Julien would refuse to help them. But they actually completed a mission without Skipper! Who would have guessed that Mort had it all along?

“It’s a good thing we found the MP3 Player,” Private remarked, echoing Kowalski’s thoughts. The young penguin walked beside him as they continued their journey through the zoo.

Kowalski nodded in agreement, but didn’t reply. He fixed his gaze ahead of him, keeping an eye out for Skipper so their leader couldn’t sneak up on them.

Then he realized that the lemurs were trailing a little ways behind them, deep in conversation. He strained to hear what they were saying. “Why did I have to give the little music player to the penguins?” Mort was asking, his voice sounding pleading, and Kowalski could picture him giving Maurice sad, hurt eyes.

“I know it must be hard for you,” Maurice replied, but Kowalski could tell from his tone that he was only trying to comfort his friend; it was clear in his voice that he really didn’t understand why Mort liked the MP3 Player so much. “But it’s for the king,” he added after a short pause. “You don’t want to go against him, do you?”

“I’ll never go against King Julien!” Mort exclaimed, sounding surprised that Maurice would even think that.

“Anyways,” the aye-aye added,” I bet he’d let you listen to it every once in a while.”

 _Yeah, and my friends and I will start flying!_ Kowalski thought, not believing for a second, that Julien would let Mort touch the MP3 Player once it was in his paws. The king hardly allows him to touch anything that’s his, which means the only thing Mort could get away with touching without being yelled at is the ground he walks on, unless Julien decides to claim _that_ as well…

They were approaching the lemur habitat when Kowalski heard someone calling to them. He signaled for everyone to quiet down so he could listen. A heartbeat later, Skipper appeared in front of them. Kowalski gasped when he saw his leader; he jumped back when Skipper slid toward them, which caused the MP3 Player to slip out of his flipper. Rico caught it before it hit the ground.

“Skippah?” Private stepped forward, looking his leader up and down. “What’s wrong? You look horrible!”

Kowalski shook his head to clear it and forced himself to relax. When Skipper appeared out of nowhere, he could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a moment, but now that he was calmed down, he saw that Private was right. Their leader was looking from side to side, his eyes were bloodshot, and his breathing was heavy.

The tall penguin walked to Skipper hesitatingly. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’ve looked everywhere for Alex!” Skipper explained, his voice betraying his fear for his daughter. “She’s nowhere! It’s like she just vanished!” He threw his flippers up wildly in panic, and Kowalski felt sorry for his leader. He exchanged a glance with the other two.

“Let’s just take him to her,” Private whispered to Kowalski, and Rico nodded in agreement.

“Skipper,” Kowalski began as he turned back to his leader, but Skipper wasn’t listening. He was looking all around, spinning in circles, like he expected Alex to come out of hiding and show herself to her father.

“Skippah?” Private called to him, looking frightened of their leader.

Skipper stopped turning and snapped his gaze to his team. “What?” he demanded.

“We know—“

Kowalski was interrupted by Maurice, who appeared in between him and Skipper. “I thought you wanted to keep her away from him,” he whispered with a glance at Skipper, who glared at the lemur.

“We can’t just let him keep on this path to insanity!” he whispered in response, hoping his words would go unheard by his leader.

“I think he’s done hit rock bottom,” Maurice muttered with another glance at Skipper. Then he sighed and said,” Very well. Do what you want.” With that said, the aye-aye went back to Mort, who still stood behind the penguins.

Kowalski waddled over to Skipper. “We know where your daughter is.”

Skipper turned on him sharply, glaring at him. “You do?”

“Yes, follow us.”

The penguins, with Maurice and Mort following, walked back to the lemur habitat, but when they arrived, Skipper came to a halt, shaking his head and pointing to the brick wall.

“I already checked here,” the leader said. “She’s not there.”

Maurice glanced at Skipper, frowning. “She was there the whole time.” He looked down at his feet awkwardly.

“You mean, you lemurs lied to me?” Skipper demanded, glaring at him.

“Sorry, Skipper,” Maurice murmured. “But they told us to.” He pointed to the other three penguins, who all gasped and started looking around, pretending to see something so interesting that they couldn’t reply to what Maurice said.

Kowalski dared to look back at his leader and winced when he saw the hurt in Skipper’s eyes. “You told them to lie to me?” he asked, staring at his team. “Why?” Before any of them could reply, anger replaced the hurt in his eyes and he shouted,” Why did you tell them to lie to me?”

 _We’re in trouble now,_ Kowalski thought, but he didn’t regret lying to his leader if it meant helping Alex. He’d just never tell that to Skipper.

“I’m sorry, Skippah,” Private apologized, walking over to him, but Skipper stepped back. “Alex wanted us to,” the young penguin told him. “She was really upset and we—“

He stopped talking when Skipper lifted his flipper, anger still blazing in his eyes. “I don’t care what Alex wanted,” he growled. “If I can’t even trust my own team, then I don’t know who I can trust!”

Kowalski wanted to tell him that he can trust them, but when he opened his beak, no sound came out. He shut it again and looked down at his feet, shame washing over him.

Without another word, Skipper jumped into the lemur habitat, leaving his teammates where they stood with Maurice and Mort on the other side of the wall. A heartbeat later they heard Skipper yell, and instantly his team jumped into action, hopping over the wall, followed closely by the two lemurs.

Kowalski stood there in shock, not believing his eyes. Julien sat on his throne, while Alex fanned him with the bamboo stick that had leaves at the end of it; there were a couple of empty smoothie cups beside the chair. The two animals looked up, startled, when Skipper yelled. Kowalski wasn’t surprised to see his leader looking so mad.

“Ringtail!” he screamed, storming over to the chair and hopping onto it, glaring down at the lemur. “What do you think you’re doing? Why is my daughter fanning you, like— like some kind of pampered _baby_?”

Julien met Skipper’s blazing eyes steadily, before pushing the penguin away from him, which caused him to fall off the chair. Kowalski helped his leader back to his feet, but Skipper kept glaring at the lemur king.

The ring tailed lemur jumped off his throne, waving his hand at Alex and she lowered the fan. Kowalski watched, not understanding what was happening. He couldn’t help but steal a glance in Alex’s direction and was shocked to see the female penguin staring at the king with an admirating expression on her face as Julien towered over Skipper. Did she like him? he wondered, hoping the answer would be no.

Sliding over to her, he whispered to her,” Good news: We got the MP3 Player. Bad news: We ran into Skipper on the way back.”

“That’s okay,” she replied, still watching Julien. Kowalski tried not to groan out loud and forced himself to pretend that he didn’t care that she wasn’t paying much attention to him.

“Well, silly penguin, you see,” Julien started as he circled around Skipper before coming to a halt in front of him. “Your daughter here is being a new subject to my kingdom.”

Kowalski saw Skipper’s eyes harden even more, and before anyone could do anything to stop him, he launched himself at the king.

Alex seemed to be about to run over to them, but Kowalski put his flipper out to stop her, shaking his head. “Don’t,” he said.

“But I have to save the king!” she protested, her eyes wide with panic.

The tall penguin stared down at her in confusion. “You really see Julien as a king, don’t you?” he asked.

“Of course!” she answered, sounding utterly shocked. “Don’t you?”

Kowalski just barely stopped himself from laughing out loud. Instead he slowly shook his head no. “He might have been one back on his home island, Madagascar,” he confessed, choosing his words carefully so not to hurt her feelings. “But he’s not really a king here; just some deranged animal who’s unable to let go of the past.”

Alex stared at him for a long moment and he looked back, nervous about the anger and hurt in her eyes. Then she turned to where her father was attacking Julien. By this time, Private and Rico were pulling Skipper off, while Maurice and Mort rescued their king from Skipper’s punches.

Kowalski saw his opportunity. Double checking to make sure no one was paying attention to them, he grabbed Alex’s flipper and hopped off the platform.

She let out a protest as he dragged her with him, but it wasn’t until they were underneath the platform that he finally let go of her. She turned on him. “What’s your problem?” she demanded.

Suddenly embarrassed, he started having regrets, but he knew he had to do this.

Without replying to her question, he took a step toward her and she backed up until she was trapped between him and the concrete wall of the platform. She looked up at him, fear and uncertainty in her eyes. Still he said nothing. He bent down a little until he was at eye level with her. Then he moved forward, pressing his beak against hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	9. The Missing Penguin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

Alex tasted fish as Kowalski kissed her. She wasn’t sure what to do at first, so she just stood there like an idiot. Finally her brain made sense of what was happening and she pushed him off her. She stared at him, too shocked to speak. She knew he had been looking at her weirdly but this...

Embarrassment washed over her when he blinked kindly at her with that same look in his eyes that was beginning to feel familiar to her. Then it all started to make sense. Ever since he first laid eyes on her, he’s been staring at her with that look. _Could it be love at first sight?_ she wondered.

Then that look vanished to be replaced with fear. Quickly he looked away and backed up a pace or two. “I’m s-sorry,” he stammered. “I guess I couldn’t help myself… couldn’t hold back any longer…”

Alex‘s heart ached. She wasn’t sure if she felt the same way toward him, but that kiss definitely stirred up feelings inside her that she didn’t know she had; feelings she’s never felt before. Before she could say anything though, Kowalski started backing off more. She wanted to call after him, but for some reason she was frozen where she stood and when she opened her beak, no sound came out.

She watched with sadness as the tall penguin jumped out of the habitat. _Maybe I do like him too,_ she thought with a heavy heart. _I’m not sure…_ She looked up at the platform and sighed. _Maybe I should focus on keeping my promise. I don’t care what Kowalski says. I’m gonna stay loyal to my king!_

Joining the others back on the platform, she saw that Skipper had stopped attacking Julien, but he was still glaring at the ring-tailed lemur. The king was standing beside his tall chair, fixing his crown on top of his head, while Maurice and the little lemur, Mort, dusted him off and smoothed his ruffled fur.

She slid over to him on her belly and asked,” Are you okay, Your Majesty?” She looked him over and was satisfied that he didn’t seem hurt.

But before Julien could reply, Skipper grabbed Alex’s flipper and dragged her away. “How can you call him that?” he demanded. “He’s no king!”

Alex faced him. “He’s my king.”

Private stepped forward. “Why do you _want_ to be his subject?” the young penguin asked with a glance at his leader before turning back to Alex.

Alex looked at Julien, then at her father, answering Private but speaking to Skipper. “I made him a promise, and I _always_ keep my promises.”

“What kind of promise?” Skipper demanded.

She snatched her flipper away from Skipper and ran back to Julien, standing close to him. She turned to face her father, forcing herself not to flinch away from his anger. “I promised to always be a loyal subject to him.”

Suddenly Skipper was pulling her away again “Oh, no, no,” he said with a shake of his head. “I do _not_ think so.” He pushed Alex toward Private and Rico; the two penguins grabbed her and forced her to stay put while her father walked over to Julien. “You brainwashed my daughter, Ringtail!”

The lemur blinked, clearly surprised. “I did no such thing,” he protested. “She was looking at me like a king so I did the only thing I thought was right; I asked her to join my kingdom.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

Anger blazed in Skipper’s ice blue eyes. “You didn’t _have_ to do that!” he snapped. “I’m gonna take her back to HQ,” he added in a low, dangerous voice. “And you will _never_ make her do anything else for you again.” In a flash he grabbed the back of the taller animal’s neck and dragged him down so that they were at eye level with each other. Alex tried to get loose to help the king but her father’s teammates had a firm grip on her. “Is that clear?” Skipper growled quietly.

Julien gulped, then nodded. Skipper pushed the lemur away, which caused him to stumble backwards into Maurice and Mort. The leader of the penguins turned back to Private and Rico, signaling for all of them to leave. His teammates nodded, but before anyone could move, Rico coughed up something and handed it to Julien, who blinked down at the object.

Alex saw that it was a small black device with buttons. She instantly recognized it as something she’s seen humans listen to music with, but before she had the chance to tell this to the king, Mort started jumping up and down in excitement.

“It’s my little music player!” the little lemur said.

“ _Your_ music player?” Julien demanded, looking down at Mort.

“It’s the MP3 Player you wanted,” Maurice told his king.

“Oh.” Julien closed his paw around the human device and called out a “thank you!” as the penguins left the habitat.

They landed on the other side of the wall, Private and Rico still holding onto Alex. As they turned toward the penguins’ HQ, Alex soon stopped fighting, realizing it was useless. It wasn’t until they arrived outside their home that Private let go of Alex and looked around.

“Where’s Kowalski?” he asked, turning confused eyes on Skipper.

Alex had forgotten about the tall penguin and their kiss, but as soon as Private said that, it all came rushing back to her. She glanced around, also wondering where he had gone. She didn’t see any sign of him. _Maybe he’s already in HQ,_ she thought, hoping he was.

Skipper blinked, obviously surprised to hear one of his teammates missing. Obviously he was so upset with Julien that he didn’t realize. “Go check if he’s inside,” he ordered Private. Turning to Alex, he told her,” Go with him. I’m going to have a little talk with you later, but for now I don’t want you to leave HQ.”

Alex opened her beak to protest, but the look Private shot her told her not to, so she sighed and followed him into the habitat. They dropped in through the entrance on the island, but once inside there was still no sign of Kowalski. Private went back up to report to his leader, while Alex sighed to herself and sat down on the steps.

 _Some day,_ she grumbled, beginning to reflect on everything that’s happened today. She was still upset with her father for not returning to her and her mother, but it felt like she learned the truth ages ago when she thought about what’s happened since then.

When she was on her journey here to find Skipper, she never once thought she’d become the newest subject to some king she only just met. But she liked the connection between them, even if she didn’t really understand it. She sighed and stared down at her feet, recalling the kiss with Kowalski. _And now I think I might have feelings for him…_

 _So much has happened in just a few hours…_ she thought. _This wasn’t how I thought today would turn out when I met my father!_

The sound of someone dropping into the HQ distracted Alex from her thoughts, and she looked up to see Private waddling over to join her. “Skippah said he and Rico are going to go find—“ He broke off suddenly and sat down beside her. “Are you okay?” he asked anxiously.

Alex sighed and turned her face away from her. “Just… thinking about… everything that’s happened today.” She sighed and added,” So much drama…” She knew it was going to be hard seeing her father but she never considered all of this…

“I’m sorry,” Private apologized, frowning. “I guess you never expected all this when you found your father…”

Alex nodded. “Does he always treat the king this way or is it because of me?” she asked, glancing at the penguin beside her.

“He’s never really liked Julien,” he explained. “He’s always getting in our way and interrupting our missions, and he keeps us up many nights with his parties.” Suddenly he smiled and hopped to his feet. “But hey, it’s really cool to have another penguin around!” he went on, and Alex realized he was trying to distract her from everything. She didn’t mind; she needed to think about something else. “And one younger than me too! I’ve always been the youngest and that’s made me feel out of place, but now that you’re here, we can hang out and get to know each other!” He smiled kindly at Alex.

She smiled back and followed him over to the couch, sitting down beside him.

“I think Skippah and the others might be gone for a bit,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me all about yourself?”

Alex really didn’t want to, but she knew if she refused, she’d hurt his feelings. She took a deep breath and began. “My full name is Alexandria,” she told him, pushing away her discomfort about Private’s interest in her. “But everyone just calls me Alex, because you know, it’s shorter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	10. Love Birds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

The rising moon was briefly covered by clouds as a gentle breeze stirred up. Then it cleared and the moon shone brightly in the night sky. From up on the clock tower, Kowalski looked down at his home far below him. He could see his friends searching for him, but he didn’t want them to find him. He wanted some alone time with his thoughts for a while.

He wondered if it had been a good idea to reveal his feelings toward Alex. His experience with Doris the dolphin should have taught him that he can’t act without at least thinking it over first. But he couldn’t help himself. Ever since he laid eyes on Alex earlier that day, he could not get her out of his head, and he really wanted her to know how he felt about her.

Sighing deeply, he took out his notepad and crayon. He was going to weigh his options and hopefully find out what he should do next. But he couldn’t lift the flipper that held the crayon. He just stared down at the blank piece of paper. He was confused when his vision became blurry, even more so when something wet fell out of his eyes. He slowly brought up his other flipper to his face and wiped away the unknown liquid. He stared down at it, suddenly realizing what it was.

 _I’m…. crying?_ he thought, shocked. _Why am I crying? Why do I love her so much?_ he added angrily. _I don’t even know her!_

But he wanted to get to know her. He longed to know every detail about her: Her favorite color, what kind of fish she preferred to eat, everything about her life, and how she sees the world. And more importantly, he wanted her opinion on scientific stuff and his inventions. He began to wonder if she even found science as fascinating as him. He couldn’t think why anyone wouldn’t. Even if she didn’t, he would still love her. It didn’t matter her likes or dislikes; nothing is going to stop him thinking about her or loving her.

 _I love hearing her voice, I love the way she looks, those sparkling blue eyes. And her smile… Oh! When she smiles, I feel all warm inside…._ Then his happy thoughts turned dark.

“But the way she looked at me when I kissed her makes me think she doesn’t feel the same about me…” Kowalski muttered to himself. Then he heard in his head Julien announcing that she was his newest subject and he recalled the way she’d stare at him... “I’m just freaking myself out,” he decided. “There’s no way she could like him…” He shook his head and wiped away his tears.

He looked down at his notepad. The first few pages were all wet. He frowned. His loneliness was messing with his mind. He couldn’t think straight! He couldn’t come up with any options that would help him get through this.

Sighing miserably, he got to his feet. He placed his notepad and crayon down, peering over the edge of the tower, staring down at the zoo far below.

_I should find Alex…_

There were things he had to tell her, and maybe then she’d see how much he truly loves her. He might even be able to talk some sense into her and make her realize that she didn’t want to be Julien’s subject. It was a long shot, but he had to do something.

His mind raced with ideas for the conversation as he climbed to the ground. Halfway down, he remembered that he forgot his notepad up there. He started heading back to get it, then he heard someone calling his name. He climbed the rest of the way down and came face to face with his leader.

“Where have you been, soldier?” Skipper demanded, and Kowalski tried not to flinch away from all the anger in his ice blue eyes. Was he still upset with his daughter or was that anger aimed at him?

Rico appeared, and looked the tall penguin up and down. Kowalski was uncomfortable under his gaze.

Sighing, Kowalski hung his head. “I’m sorry, Skipper,” he murmured. “I just needed some time by myself. I had to think about a few things.” He hoped they wouldn’t ask what he had to think about, but as soon as he hoped that, his leader asked him that exact question. Kowalski rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he should tell his friends what he did.

Before he could reply, Skipper sighed and shook his head. “You can explain yourself later, soldier,” he decided, and Kowalski tried his best to hide his relief. “Right now, we should get back to HQ so I can talk to Alex.”

They started heading back, and Kowalski could tell that Skipper was more annoyed than angry now. “I just don’t understand that lemur sometimes,” he muttered, but Kowalski wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or to him. He just kept walking without replying though.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they arrived back in their HQ, Skipper stormed over to Alex; the female penguin was sitting on the couch with Private. They seemed to be right in the middle of a conversation, but when she saw her father, Alex broke off and jumped to her feet, turning to face him bravely.

Kowalski admired her in every way, but he tried to hide his feelings as he waddled over there.

“What do you think you were doing, joining his bunch of idiotic followers?” Skipper demanded, glaring at his daughter in anger.

“I don’t think he’s that bad!” Alex protested.

Unable to see them fighting, Kowalski pushed in between his leader and the penguin he loved. “Skipper?” he asked, turning to him. “Can we talk?”

For a moment, he switched his glare on him, then he nodded and allowed his teammate to lead him away, but not before shooting another disapproving look at his daughter.

“Listen, Skipper,” the tall penguin said once they were out of earshot of the others. “I’m not happy about Alex being Julien’s subject either. But she wants to, for some reason. You two have been separated for years and now’s your chance to reunite, not fight.” He sighed and looked down at his feet, realizing that all this was going straight over his leader’s head. He has always been too stubborn to hear reason.

So he was surprised when Skipper nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Kowalski,” he said unexpectedly. “I shouldn’t be getting upset with Alex. She’s new around here; she doesn’t understand anything yet. Once she sees how annoying that lemur can be, she’ll want nothing to do with him.”

Kowalski was relieved that he was able to calm his leader down, and when they joined the others, Skipper apologized to his daughter for his behavior. Alex stared at him in shock.

“Really? You’re not mad anymore?” she asked. “Just like that?” She looked at Kowalski, surprise in her eyes, and he smiled and shrugged slightly, silently telling her to go with it. She shook her head and turned to her father. “I’m sorry I upset you,” she said, hugging him.

Skipper waved her apology away and hugged her back. “It’s okay.” Then he pulled away and turned to the rest of his team. “Come on, men. It’s bedtime.” He headed straight to the bunks with Private and Rico following him. Kowalski took a step after them, but he felt something pulling on his flipper, and he turned in surprise to see Alex blinking warm eyes at him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, leaning forward and laying a kiss on his cheek, which sent a shiver up his spine. “I know it may seem like I hate him,” she continued, pulling away, and somehow Kowalski knew she meant Skipper. His guess was confirmed when she said,” But he’s still my father.”

At first, Kowalski couldn’t speak. He kept replaying her kissing him. Then he cleared his throat and pointed toward the couch. “Y-You can sleep there for now,” he stammered, mentally slapping himself for sounding so stupid.

Alex smiled and let go of his flipper. As she went to the couch, he grabbed her a spare blanket and a pillow. “Good-night, Kowalski,” she murmured as she laid down and closed her eyes.

For a moment he looked down at her and smiled. “Good-night, Alex,” he said as he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. He was hesitant at first but he was relieved when she didn’t push him off. He waddled over to his own bed and climbed into it, staring across the room at the couch where he could see Alex already sound asleep. Then he fell asleep too, his dreams full of the beautiful penguin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	11. Fred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

Alex watched as her father and his team climbed the ladder. Even after they had gone, she continued to stare in that direction, thinking about everything that happened yesterday. She was thankful to be alone with her thoughts for a bit, while Skipper and the others were topside so the humans didn’t get suspicious if they didn’t see the penguins.

She wasn’t entirely sure what she and Kowalski were. Yeah, she had kissed him on the cheek last night, and he had given her one in return on the forehead, but they barely had time to talk before Skipper rounded up his team and ordered them outside. She was glad of that, actually. She wanted to figure out her feelings toward the tall penguin before she said anything to him.

She glanced around the lair, her mind racing. Waddling over to the TV, she thought she could think better with some noise in the background. But as soon as she turned it on, unicorns appeared on the screen. She remembered this show. She discovered it during her journey to find her father and she instantly hated it. What was it called?

_Oh yeah… The Lunacorns…_

Quickly she switched off the TV, suddenly preferring quiet. She turned away and walked over to the fishy trophy. Private had told her that behind it was a secret tunnel that led outside, and, sure enough, when she pushed the trophy aside she found herself staring into a dark hole.

She took a deep breath and plunged into it, the darkness swallowing her up. For several long moments she couldn’t see anything, and she was fighting against panic when she felt her flipper brush against something. Pushing it aside, she was blinded by the bright sunlight but once she could see, she looked around for any humans.

After making sure the coast was clear, she jumped to the ground and looked around. She was in the park. She waddled to the nearest tree, ducking behind it when someone walked by. Hiding suddenly reminded her of when she first got to the zoo yesterday morning. She had been angry and confused then, desperate for answers. But now so many things have been resolved. She was still upset with her father, but at least now she can begin the process of forgiving him. And now as King Julien’s loyal subject, she might be able to find her true purpose in life.

 _And then there’s Kowalski…._ she thought, sighing dreamingly. _He’s really sweet and he does seem to like me a lot…. But do I feel the same about him?_

As she walked through the park, she looked around, for once seeing the beauty of the world. For as long as she could remember, she’s been mad and hurt because she had to grow up without a father, and yesterday those feelings intensified when she found out that Skipper could have returned to his family but chose not to. But now somehow everything seemed okay. She felt like she could start living life instead of hating everything all the time.

 _Is it because I’m… in love?_ She’s never been in love before, but surely that’s what this warm feeling was. She actually felt _happy_ for the first time ever.

She found a tree that she could sit under and she was wondering how to confess her feelings to Kowalski when something hit her on the head. Rubbing where the thing had left a knot, she looked around to see an acorn beside her.

Confused, she looked up just in time to see another falling straight at her. She jumped out of the way and the acorn just barely missed her. She lifted her eyes and saw a bushy tail flicking above her. She opened her beak to call out to the creature but just then another acorn was tossed her way.

Alex jumped backwards to avoid it, but she tripped over the root of the tree and gasped as she went over. Groaning, she sat up, rubbing her aching head. She shakily got to her feet and looked up in the tree, watching the tail.

“Hey!” she called up to the animal.

The tail vanished and a head popped out. It was a squirrel. He stared down at her with a clueless expression.

“Watch where you’re throwing those acorns!” Alex told him, and he looked where she was pointing.

Then he turned back to her. “Did I hit you?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh.” He dropped out of the tree and landed in front of her. “I’m sorry.” He stared at her, blinking very slowly.

Alex took a step away from him, suddenly uncomfortable under his stare. “It’s okay… I guess,” she muttered. She sat down, and when he sat down beside her, she glanced at him. Did he want something? Why wasn’t going back to doing whatever it was he had been doing? Sighing, she decided it didn’t matter. She had more important things to worry about than this weird squirrel.

She had to figure out what to tell Kowalski later today when she saw him. She now knew she liked him back; maybe even loved him. But she had to find the right words to say how she felt. And the squirrel staring at her wasn’t making it any easier.

Finally, she turned to him and snapped,” What?”

He didn’t react to her harsh tone. He just blinked and said,” You’re new around here, huh? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

Alex sighed. She didn’t want to have a conversation with this squirrel. “I’m Alex,” she told him. “You probably know my dad, Skipper.”

The squirrel seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging. He didn’t reply but continued to stare at the female penguin. Alex sighed again and decided to forget about him as she considered what she should say to Kowalski. Suddenly the squirrel announced,” I’m Fred.”

The penguin turned to him and got to her feet. “It was great meeting you,” she said politely though she thought, _Or maybe not so great…._ “But,” she went on. “I’m trying to think about something.” _And you keep interrupting me!_

The squirrel blinked up at her, but said nothing.

Alex turned to leave to go find some other place to think, but as soon as she took a step, Fred got up and stood in front of her. She stared at him, expecting him to say something, but he just looked her in the eyes. She sighed; this squirrel was starting to really bug her.

“What?” she asked, taking a step back.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Alex was taken aback. She eyed him suspiciously; she really didn’t want to tell him, but she knew if she didn’t, he'd keep on staring at her with that blank expression. Sighing, she sat down again and said,” Someone I just met told me that he likes me, and I’m trying to decide what to tell him.”

The squirrel sat down beside her, blinking slowly at her. “Do you like him back?” he asked.

Alex glanced at him and nodded. She didn’t want to talk to him about Kowalski, but she had to admit that she felt a little better having someone to confess all this to. Nobody else knew that the tall penguin liked her, not even Private, who she had a long conversation with but she wasn’t comfortable enough with him to tell him that Kowalski had kissed her.

 _Maybe King Julien will listen to me,_ she thought, but she wondered if her father really had forgiven her for promising to be his loyal subject.

Fred’s voice broke into her thoughts. “You should tell him how you feel.”

“It’s not that easy.” Alex sighed, looking away from him. She was never good at explaining her feelings.

He was silent for a moment, and she looked at him again to see him blinking at her with a clueless stare. “Why not?” he asked. “Just go up to him and tell him that you like him. It’s not that hard.”

Now it was Alex’s turn to look stupid. The way he said that did make it sound easy, but she knew it was a lot harder than it sounded. _But I still have to try!_ she decided determinedly, getting up. She dropped to her stomach and slid back toward the zoo, calling out to Fred as she left,” Bye, Fred! Thank you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	12. New Boyfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

When the gates came into view, Alex halted and jumped into a bush. Several humans walked by without noticing her, and she wondered how she was going to get in with so many people around. She decided to wait until the zoo closed; she knew her father and the others would be too busy entertaining the visitors to realize she’s gone. So she laid down in the bush and turned a few times, finding it hard to get comfortable.

As she fidgeted, she wondered if telling Kowalski her feelings were going to be as easy as Fred believed it would be. She wasn’t sure how much time went by but after what felt like hours, the bell on top of the clock tower went off, and she heard a large crowd heading her way. She ducked farther into the bush, praying that nobody would see her. She held her breath until finally the last of the people went away.

Relieved that she went unnoticed, she came out of hiding. Now she can move throughout the zoo without worrying about someone seeing her. But she didn’t go far before she heard a voice that has grown familiar calling out to her. She looked around and spotted her father sliding to her. He jumped to his feet when he got to her.

“Where have you been?” he demanded as the other three appeared behind him; Alex noticed that Kowalski in particular looked really worried.

Alex turned to her father in surprise. “I was bored inside all by myself!” she told him,” so I went to the park. I met a squirrel,” she added. “Named Fred.”

The tall penguin waddled over to her. “Ah, Fred,” he said. “How is he?”

“He’s good,” she answered, deciding not to tell him what they talked about just yet. _I’ll get him alone later and tell him then._ “I asked if he knew Skipper, but he didn’t really answer like he wasn’t sure.”

Kowalski nodded and folded his flippers behind his back. “Yes, Fred can be a little clueless at times.”

“I can tell,” she murmured.

Skipper stepped in between them and said,” No time for small talk. Let’s head back to HQ.”

Kowalski dipped his head. “Yes, sir.”

Alex eyes her father suspiciously but decides to follow him and the others anyways. Maybe she can get some one on one with Kowalski when they get back. They didn’t get far when a brown-and-white animal jumped in front of them.

“Hey, guys!” she greeted the four commando penguins, then looked past them at Alex. “Who’s she?”

Skipper took a step toward the otter. “Marlene, this Alex, my daughter.”

The otter’s eyes widened and her jaws dropped open. “Your _what_?” she exclaimed as she turned to the female penguin; Alex ducked behind Kowalski in embarrassment, feeling more heat under her feathers when the tall penguin flashed her a friendly smile but said nothing.

“I’ll explain later,” Skipper told the otter. “We were just heading back to HQ.”

Marlene held his gaze for another moment, before sighing. “Okay,” she said slowly. “But,” she quickly added, looking Skipper in the eyes,” I expect the _whole_ story later.” She turned and walked off.

Alex watched her leave, before hurrying to catch up to the others. Now in the secret room inside the concrete island, she looked around as Private and Rico went over to the table. They started playing some card game and for a few moments, she watched curiously, wondering what they were playing. She was confused when they each licked a card and sticker it to their heads, before Private started dealing them both in.

She soon was distracted by their game when she spotted Kowalski and Skipper talking. As she stared at them, Skipper nodded and walked over to the table to join in the card game while Kowalski disappeared into another room. Curious, she followed him and poked her head in, blinking as she saw the tall penguin bending over a table with a few weird looking machines spread out on it. She swallowed nervously and waddled over to him, taking in everything in this much smaller room. When she stopped beside him, she asked,” Hey, can we talk?”

He looked up in surprise, but she was glad to see his gaze warming as he stared down at her. “Of course.” He waddled to the door and closed it, before returning to her. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Us.” Alex stared down at her feet, shifting them nervously. For a moment she had believed she’d be able to do this, but now that she’d brought it up, she wasn’t sure if she could. _Can’t back down now,_ she thought as she glanced up, seeing that his eyes sparkled as he looked back at her.

“What about us?” he asked.

Alex cleared her throat. “I know you like me,” she started, thinking about that kiss they shared in the lemur habitat. She looked up at the tall penguin and saw that he was hanging on every world she was saying. “And I think I—“ She paused and shook her head, suddenly certain. “No, I _know_ I like you a lot. But what does that make us?”

Kowalski grabbed her flippers and looked her in the eyes. “Well, I’d really like to be your boyfriend… if you’d let me…” he whispered as he bent down.

Alex didn’t move as he pressed his beak against hers; this time she kissed him back. When they separated, Alex smiled up at the taller penguin, then laid her head on his chest. “I’d like that,” she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	13. Kowalski’s Inventions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

Alex wanted to stay like this forever, so she was disappointed when Kowalski took a step back. She looked up at him to see him smiling down at her. He gave her another kiss, before turning and walking over to the door, opening it. She followed him, surprising herself by wishing that moment could have lasted longer.

She was aware that she just met him, but already she had strong feelings for the tall penguin. In a dream-like state, she followed him to the main room. She snapped out of it when she noticed her father and the others looking up from their card game.

Somehow they seemed to know something just happened; the way Skipper was eyeing his daughter was making her very uncomfortable. But she moved closer to Kowalski and decided to stand her ground if Skipper had something to say about them being a couple.

The leader put his cards down and got to his feet. He waddled over to them, and Alex reached for Kowalski’s flipper, suddenly not afraid of what her father would say. She was surprised to see him nodding his head, approval shining in his ice blue eyes.

“So you two finally got together, huh?” he asked, with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Alex stared at her father, shocked. “You knew we would?”

“I had a hunch,” Skipper said. “Sad Eyes saw you kissing, and I wondered how long it would take before you said something about it.”

Alex was about to respond, but Kowalski forestalled her. He placed his flipper on her shoulder and told his leader,” We are officially together.”

“That’s great!” Private came waddling over, a smile on his face, Rico right behind him. “Congratulations!”

Rico grunted and he gave Kowalski a sly look.

But Alex was confused. Who was “Sad Eyes” and how did whoever they were see them kissing? She was about to ask her father when Private turned to Skipper and asked,” Can we celebrate with snow cones, Skippah?” His eyes shone.

Skipper turned to him, smiling. “Sure, young private.” He started waddling to the ladder, but Alex didn’t move. Her father must have noticed that she wasn’t following because he stopped and turned to her. “Are you coming?” he asked.

“Actually, I might miss out this time,” she said, and she turned to Kowalski. “I was hoping we could spend some time alone together.”

Her boyfriend smiled at her.

Skipper nodded and called the other two, and they left. Then Alex was alone with Kowalski. She turned to him and saw him smiling down at her. Before she could react, he grabbed her flipper and said,” Come with me. I want to show you something.”

He led her back to the smaller room they were in earlier and they stopped beside the table. He gestured around them, indicating all the machines, blueprints, and objects in there.

“Welcome to my lab,” he announced, glancing down at her.

She looked around in wonder as she began to explore. She passed a strange looking ray-gun, and she stopped beside it. Picking it up, she examined it. The end of it was the bottom part of a bowling pin and the other half was pointy.

_Weird…_

She reached for the trigger, making sure it wasn’t pointing at her, but right when she was about to shoot it, a flipper touched her shoulder and she turned around, eyes wide. She relaxed when she saw that it was just Kowalski; but her heart beat faster when she saw that she was pointing the strange gun at him. Quickly she lowered it and laughed nervously.

“That’s my shrink ray,” he explained as he took it from her.

She stopped laughing when their flippers touched. Blushing, she pulled away and looked everywhere but at him. She wasn’t used to liking someone in this kind of way.

As she looked, she noticed something on the table. She hurried over there and studied it without touching it. _What is this?_ she wondered. It looked like a toy— pink with heart stickers on it and lots of buttons and a skinny hole. It also had a lever and a big red button.

_Even weirder…_

“Now that right there, I call it the Luv-u-lator 3000,” Kowalski told her as he walked over to her.

Alex turned to him. “3000?” she asked, confused. “Why 3000?”

Kowalski shrugged. “Just thought it sounded catchy.”

“I guess it does.” She turned back to it. “What does it do?”

“It’s supposed to find someone’s perfect match.”

Alex widened her eyes. “Really?” A thought suddenly popped in her mind, but she didn’t say anything, so she was surprised when the tall penguin said,“ Wanna try it? I don’t think it works, but we can see what it says.”

“Sure,” she replied, sounding calmer than she actually felt. _I can see once and for all if I should be with Kowalski,_ she thought.

He picked up the machine and walked out of his lab. Alex followed him. When they got to the main room, he started plugging wires into the TV.

Then he turned to her and pulled out a q-tip. “I have to get a saliva sample.”

Confused, Alex stuck out her tongue. She felt the q-tip move across it and blinked when Kowalski stepped back. Putting her tongue back in her beak, she watched as he walked over to the machine and dropped the q-tip into the hole. As soon as he did that, the red button started flashing and a picture of the zoo appeared on the TV screen.

The female penguin looked at it, confused. Was it working?

She flinched when a red heart popped up, pounding like a real one. But it wasn’t in the penguin habitat. She looked closer, but before she could be sure where her perfect match could be, Kowalski pushed a button and the screen faded to black.

Alex turned on him. “Why did you do that?” she demanded.

“Oh.” He sounded surprised and he didn’t look her in the face. “I told you this thing didn’t work. It didn’t work last time, and it’s not working now. Sorry.” He shrugged and began to push Alex back to his lab. “There’s something else I want to show you, anyways.”

Back in his lab, Kowalski crossed the room and returned a moment later, his flippers behind his back. Alex looked at him, confused and curious at the same time.

Finally he revealed what he was hiding and Alex blinked. He held a strange, square thing made of… jelly?

“I named this creature Jiggles,” Kowalski told her as he flicked the blob and the creature wiggled.

Alex jumped back when she saw it move.

“It’s alright.” He smiled kindly and held his flipper out. She reached forward and the creature jerked into motion, slowly sliding off its creator’s flipper and onto Alex’s. She stared down at it.

_Very interesting…_

She forgot all about Kowalski’s strange reaction to the results of the Luv-u-lator as she watched Jiggles move along her flipper, and a few times she had to catch it with her other flipper before it fell off.

“I accidentally created him when I was on the edge of a breakdown,” Kowalski said. “It had been a while since I had created something useful, so I was… umm… beginning to freak out a little. Then I made this wonderful discovery…”

His voice faded to the back of Alex’s mind as she zoned out. As she stared down at Jiggles, she soon forgot to pretend like she was listening as Kowalski went on and on about how he had made this jelly creature and how it had turned evil.

A gentle touch on her shoulder brought her back, and she looked up. Kowalski was looking at her seriously.

“Do you like science?” he asked suddenly.

Alex blinked, surprised. Then looked down at Jiggles again. “Honestly…” She hesitated. “No,” she finally answered. “Not really… I mean, I taught myself how to read, but I never had much interest in the science field. I’m sorry…”

Kowalski looked away. “That’s alright. I—“

He was interrupted by someone calling from the other room. “Hello? Penguins?”

It was King Julien. _What’s he doing here?_ Alex wondered.

Kowalski rolled his eyes. “He often barges in our HQ uninvited,” he murmured. He sighed when the king called out again, but before he went to go see what the lemur wanted, he took Jiggles from Alex and told her quietly,” This is top secret. Nobody besides you and I know about him.” He pointed to Jiggles.

Alex nodded to show that she understood.

Quickly the scientist hid the jelly-creature and headed toward the door. As he passed Alex, he grabbed her flipper and she walked with him out of his lab.

King Julien was standing in the middle of the main room, looking around. Maurice and Mort were behind him; the aye-aye lemur was looking uncomfortable, but Mort stared at the king’s feet with noticeable excitement. As soon as he saw her, Julien’s eyes lit up and he ran to her.

“We are having a party,” he announced, adding,” And I’m gonna be needing _all_ of my subjects.” There was something about his tone and the meaningful look he shot Kowalski that made her uneasy. But she knew she couldn’t object after the promise she made.

She took a step back and dipped her head. “Yes, my king,” she answered, but before she could start to follow the lemurs, Kowalski pulled her aside and bent down to whisper to her,” I don’t think Skipper will like this.”

She stared wide eyed at him. “But he’s my king,” she insisted, willing him to understand. “I made him a promise, and I can’t back down now. I must listen to him.” She took a step toward the lemurs, but stopped in her tracks when she caught her boyfriend’s eyes. What was wrong with him? Why did he look so miserable?

“What is taking so long?” Alex looked past him and saw the king was leaning to one side now, arms crossed, with an annoyed look on his face.

She turned back to Kowalski. “I’m sorry, but I have to go with him,” she murmured. She stretched on her tiptoes to lay a kiss on his forehead, then ran to Julien’s side, staring up at him eagerly. “I promise I won’t be out long!” she called over her shoulder as she followed the lemurs up the ladder. She glanced down at Kowalski, telling herself that she was only imagining the anxious look on his face; then she left the HQ and her boyfriend behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	14. Ruining a Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

As Alex left, Kowalski felt like his heart broke into many fragments. How could she leave him for that self-centered, deranged lemur? Suddenly anger pulsed through him, but he pushed it down as he reminded himself that she was only attending his party. There was no way she could actually like Julien. Kowalski just wished she wasn’t so faithful to him; he knew they just got together, but shouldn’t she put her boyfriend first, especially when it came to that so-called king?

He sighed and turned back to the TV, remembering what he had seen when they were looking for Alex’s perfect match. Seeing that had already broken him; then watching her going off with that lemur had felt like a knife piercing his heart.

 _Perhaps… I should just tell her?_ he thought, waddling over to the TV.

The red button was still flashing and when he pushed it, a picture of the zoo appeared on the screen. He fought back tears when he saw the pounding heart. Why was it over there? It wasn’t fair! _He_ loved her! The heart should be over the penguin habitat where he was!

He swallowed his sadness as anger rose in him again. He shut off the machine and unplugged the wires. “This stupid machine does _not_ work! There’s no way that crazy lemur could be her perfect match!”

He picked up his invention and stormed back to his lab, throwing it on the table. He didn’t care about his Luv-u-lator anymore, and he made a mental note to destroy it later. He made this thing, hoping to find animals’ perfect match with the help of science. But all it’s done is hurt him, and he was sick of it.

Turning his back on his failed creation, he left his lab. He took a step toward the ladder, resolving that he’ll go after his girlfriend and confess everything to her; he was now regretting not being honest with her in the first place.

But the fishbowl was pushed aside, and Skipper and the others dropped into the lair. They were laughing and looked like they were enjoying themselves. He swallowed nervously. How was he going to tell Skipper that his daughter went with Julien and his subjects to have a party?

The leader walked over to him. “Here,” he said, handing him a snow cone.

Kowalski stared down at it and didn’t say anything.

“We ate ours on the way back, but we got you and Alex each one and—“ Skipper stopped talking and looked around. “Hey, where is Alex?”

Already the snow cone was melting. Kowalski took a deep breath. “Julien came by and invited her to a party,” he blurted, but he was careful not to mention that Julien had called her his subject… _Again!_

Instantly anger flashed in Skipper’s eyes. “Ringtail,” he growled. Then he added,” Move out, men!”

Rico, who was holding the other snow cone, threw all of it, ice and paper cone, into his mouth and swallowed. Then he and Private vanished through the hole. Before following them, Skipper turned to Kowalski, who couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Are you okay?” his leader asked, and he looked up at his gentle tone.

Kowalski hesitated. He didn’t want to tell him about Alex’s perfect match. If he could help it, she was the only one he wanted to know the truth. “I just don’t like that Alex made Julien a promise,” he finally said, relieved that he didn’t have to tell his leader a lie. He just told him something else that was bothering him.

Skipper muttered in agreement. “But don’t worry,” he told him. “I’m going to put a stop to this once and for all.”

“What are you going to do?” Kowalski was almost afraid to know the answer. He stared down at his snow cone. It was melting fast now. He tried copying what Rico did, only eating the colorful ice, but instantly he got brain freeze. Pain shot through his head and he groaned miserably.

Skipper shook his head and nudged him toward the ladder. Still in pain, Kowalski followed his leader up the ladder. He knew Skipper never answered him and that worried him more.

Now on the island, he spotted his friends waiting for him just outside the habitat. He joined them, over his painful brain freeze, but he had a slight headache now. He avoided Private’s eyes when the young penguin glanced at him. He didn’t feel like talking right now, what with Alex leaving him like that and then experiencing that intense pain when he tried eating all his snow cone at once.

Before they even got to the lemur habitat, they heard loud music, and as soon as they arrived there, Skipper and his team jumped over the wall. Kowalski looked around; the lemurs and Alex were in front of them. Anger rose in him when he saw how close Julien and Alex were dancing.

Without thinking, he ran over there and pushed in between them, glaring at the lemur. “Stay away from her, you…. you…” Rage burned in him. “You girlfriend stealer!”

Julien stumbled away from him. “Girlfriend stealer?” he gasped.

Then someone was pulling him backwards, and he glanced up to see his teammates looking at him with wide, surprised eyes.

“Explain yourself, soldier,” Skipper demanded.

At first Kowalski didn’t say anything; he watched with disgust as Alex helped Julien to his feet. Then he sighed. “I’m sorry, Skipper,” he muttered. He stared down at his feet. He really didn’t want to explain himself, but he knew he had to obey his commanding officer. He took a deep breath and looked at Alex, but when he spoke, it was informing everyone. “Earlier, Alex and I did an experiment with my Luv-u-lator 3000.”

“Really?” Skipper rolled his eyes. “That thing again? I thought you gave up on it?”

Kowalski shrugged. “I just wanted to test it out one last time,” he confessed. Then he sighed again and added,” But the result was one I didn’t expect. It said _he—_ “ He pointed to King Julien—“ is, supposedly, her perfect match.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	15. Perfect Match

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

As soon as he heard what the smarty penguin said, Julien burst out laughing. He was aware of everyone staring at him, but he didn’t care. He thought that was the funniest thing in the world. A _penguin_ being _his_ perfect match? _I’m a king!_ he declared in his head, still laughing out loud. _I can have anyone I want! Why would I_ want _a penguin?_

When he looked at everyone around him, he tried to get control of his laughter. The leader of the penguins was glaring at him, while the smart one grumbled to himself and crossed his flippers over his chest. The youngest member of the team had an uneasy look on his face as he took a step away from Julien, and the psychopath of the group just rolled his eyes but stood his ground as if waiting for orders from his commanding officer.

Still laughing a little, eyes watering, the king turned to see Maurice shaking his head and Mort looking confused. Julien took a deep breath when his lungs started to hurt from lack of air. He sat up and wrapped away the tears of laughter.

Then he saw her: Alex was staring at him with deep sadness in her eyes. She looked on the verge of crying at the way the king reacted to Kowalski’s news. Instantly Julien regretted behaving in such a way, but he didn’t really understand why. Surely he didn’t have feelings for this penguin?

Shutting up, he smoothed down his ruffled fur, suddenly aware of all eyes on him and for once, he didn’t want to be the center of attention.

He cleared his throat and walked over to the smarty penguin, looking him in the eyes. “How can I be her perfect match?” he asked calmly. “I don’t even like her in that way!” He pushed away the nagging feeling that disagreed with him. _Of course I don’t like a penguin!_

To his surprise, Kowalski’s eyes flashed with anger, and the king took a step back, convinced that he would jump on him. But instead the tall penguin just snapped,” I don’t know. I don’t think my Luv-I-lator is even working, so can we just forget about it?” He walked over to Alex, the anger fading from his expression as he faced the female penguin. “I just thought that you should know the truth.”

It was obvious that he thought she would be thankful that he told her, but she clearly wasn’t. She took a step back and glared at him. “That’s why you turned it off before I could get a good look!” she yelled.

He flinched away from her. “When I first made the Luv-u-lator, I thought that science could help someone find their perfect match,” he explained, looking down and shifting his feet. “But when I believed that I might lose you because of it, I decided that some machines can't choose who someone wants to spend the rest of their lives with.” He glanced up at Alex.

Alex stared at him for a long moment. “Why did you have to hide it from me?” she whispered.

Kowalski shook his head. “I panicked. I didn't know what else to do. I don't want to lose you.” He reached for her flippers, looking her in the eyes. “I've never felt this way about anyone.”

“What about Doris the dolphin?” Private spoke up, and Julien remembered hearing many tales about the sea mammal that had stolen the tall penguin's heart.

Kowalski glared at the young penguin, and Private ducked behind Rico as if he thought the bigger bird would protect him, but Rico looked bored with the scene in front of him.

“Who's Doris?” Alex asked, taking a step away from Kowalski.

“Um…,” Kowalski stammered, turning back to the female penguin. “I used to have a tiny… itty bitty… crush on her. But—“

“More like a major, obsessive crush,” Skipper interrupted. “But she never liked him back.” He folded his flippers over his chest and smirked at the tall penguin.

“Yes, thank you, Skipper,” Kowalski muttered. “I'm over her though,” he added to Alex. “And what I feel for you is stronger than what I ever felt for Doris, and it's different than just a crush; it's love.”

“Didn’t you write Doris a poem once?” Private asked, and Rico grunted an agreement as if he was suddenly interested in what was going on again since everyone seemed to be giving Kowalski a hard time at the moment.

Kowalski glared at his friends, and they all shut their beaks. Then he turned back to Alex and told her,” Trust me, I'm over Doris. I want you. I believe that we are each other's perfect match... if you will still have me.”

Alex stared at him for a moment later, and then she glanced at Julien, who had taken a few steps away from the penguins and was now standing beside his subjects. He froze when she looked at him. He couldn't read her expression, which frustrated him. 

Finally she turned back to Kowalski and nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I still like you.” She playfully tapped his beak and reached on her tiptoe to lay a kiss on his forehead. Julien rolled his eyes, annoyed at the penguins for interrupting his party, but more annoyed that his subject was dating one of Skipper's teammates. Could he order her not to date him?

As he watched them hug each other, though, he couldn't bring himself to say the words to command her not to see him anymore for some reason. He sighed and thought maybe he was getting sick.

Suddenly not wanting to party anymore, he walked over to the penguins and started pushing them out of his habitat, saying,” It was fun having you visiting, but you must go.” He eyed his new subject, not able to get it out of his mind that she could be his perfect match, but he was determined to never bring it up again. “I'll see you later, subject,” he told her as he continued to push them.

Skipper turned on him. “Stop calling her that, Ringtail!” he snapped, sounding tired of the whole thing, but before the lemur could think of a comeback, the leader went on to his team,” Come on, men, let's get back to our HQ.” After shooting one last glare at Julien, the lead penguin led his team and Alex out of the lemur habitat.

Sighing, Julien watched them go. He didn't realize Maurice was beside him until the aye-aye said,” Who would have thought your perfect match would be a penguin?”

When he said that, Julien glared at him. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He jumped off the platform and went over to his bouncy house, annoyed and frustrated. He rolled his eyes as he thought about Alex being his perfect match.

_Yeah, right!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


	16. Sun Set

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters but I do own the penguin Alex.

When Alex dropped through the hole and landed in front of the bunks, she stumbled, falling to her hands and knees. She was so distracted. First, Kowalski tells her that King Julien was her perfect match. Then the lemur she pledged her loyalty to, laughs his head off as if he thought it was some kind of joke; he obviously didn't like her, and of course she didn't like him the same way she liked Kowalski. The only reason she agreed to go to his party was because of the promise she made to him to always be his loyal subject.

And now she found out Kowalski had a huge, obsessive crush on some dolphin called Doris. Even though he said he was over her, Alex still felt uncomfortable just at the thought of him liking someone else so much. She knew someone who was obsessed over her, and his feelings never went away. How can Kowalski like someone and then suddenly like someone else? She just didn't like it one bit.

Kowalski helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking her over.

Alex gave him a curt nod. “Yes,” she muttered, not meeting his eyes.

She heard the tall penguin sigh. “I'm really sorry for keeping the truth from you,” he whispered.

Alex opened her beak to reply, but before she could say anything, Skipper turned to Private and Rico, and told them,” Come on, let's give these two some alone time.” They nodded before going up the ladder again. Skipper dipped his head to the couple before following his teammates out the lair.

Suddenly not sure what to say, Alex walked over to the table and laid her head on it, sighing.

“I'll understand if you don't want to be my girlfriend anymore,” Kowalski murmured as he walked up.

Alex looked up in surprise. “Oh no, it's not that,” she said quickly. “Of course I want to be your girlfriend.”

Kowalski blinked. “You do?” he asked hopefully. “What's wrong then?” He sat down beside her and wrapped his flipper around the female penguin.

“I guess I'm just a little sad about the way King Julien reacted when you told him that he could be my perfect match,” she whispered.

The tall penguin frowned. “Don't take anything Julien does or says to heart. He doesn't care if he hurts others. But,” he added a little hesitantly,” you aren't gonna go with the perfect match thing?”

Alex shook her head. “Nah,” she replied, smiling at Kowalski. “I made a promise to the king to always be his loyal subject, but that's all.” She grabbed his flippers and stared into his eyes. “I like you, Kowalski and only you.” She kissed him on the beak.

When they pulled away, Kowalski got to his feet and turned to her. “Why did you make that promise anyways?”

“He had asked me to be his subject,” she answered as she got up as well. “I couldn't just say no to a king, so I promised to always be loyal to him.”

Kowalski asked,” Are you happy being his subject?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, it seems fun and I like making my king happy.” She could see uncertainty in his eyes so she added,” You can trust me. And I'm sure Julien doesn't want anything to do with me other than being his subject.”

The tall penguin suddenly looked like he regretted doubting his girlfriend. “I'm sorry,” he muttered. “Of course I trust you, sweetie.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Come on, let's go topside and see what the others are doing.”

Alex nodded again and followed her boyfriend to the ladder. Once on the island, she saw that the sun was beginning to set. She glanced around and saw that Skipper was laying in a chair while Private swam in the water and Rico just stared off into space. They all turned as Alex and Kowalski appeared.

Skipper sat up and looked at the two questioningly. Alex didn't feel like discussing anything with her father so she walked over to the edge of the island and sat down, putting her feet in the water. She jumped when she realized that Private had appeared, swimming in circles. She watched him for a few moments, then turned as Kowalski sat beside her.

He didn't say anything, just wrapped his flipper around her and smiled at her. Alex smiled back and leaned into him, watching the sky over head turn a red and yellow color. She sighed happily as she sat next to the penguin she’s come to love in the last couple of days.

Private jumped out of the water and joined them. Then Skipper and Rico walked over as well. They all sat there and watched the sun vanish from sight behind the buildings in the distance. Alex felt her heart swell with happiness as she looked at her father and his team.

All her life she believed the only family she had in the whole wide world was her mother and her closest friends back home. But now her family grew a little bigger and she was okay with that.

_I think I’m really going to like it here._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!
> 
> THE END!!


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